Merit-based appointment, especially when it comes to key posts, is an area where the government has disappointed most.
Be it the appointment of governor of the State Bank or the latest move to put in place a minion at the prestigious post of chief economist of Pakistan.
In the past one year, the government has made many moves where a merit-based system was completely ignored in a bid to either appoint cronies at key posts or bring in professionally weak individuals who cannot take a stand in front of rulers. Unfortunately, this has promoted a culture of patronage that is in direct contrast to the merit-based system.
The result is that these sub-standard people are making dubious decisions and, in the process, hopes of strengthening key state institutions and departments are taking a massive hit.
Many state institutions deteriorated to a greater degree from 2008 to 2013 due to the same mistakes committed by the previous Pakistan Peoples Party-led government. The PPP earned a bad name by appointing persons like Adnan Khawaja as chairman of the Oil and Gas Development Company Limited. The state institutions have ruined even further.
The government’s latest move to appoint a relatively junior person as chief economist has again set off alarm bells. Reportedly, to fill the post, the Ministry of Planning, Development and Reforms has forwarded a summary to Prime Minister’s Office, recommending the names of Dr Mohammad Nadeem Javid, Dr Talat Anwar and Idrees Khawaja for the post.
The talk of the capital is that the government wants to appoint Dr Mohammad Nadeem Javid as the new chief economist. Dr Javid was inducted in the SBP in 2005 as OG-2 – an entry level post equivalent to grade 17. He went to France and acquired a PhD in Economics and MS in Innovation and Industrial Dynamics from the University of Nice Sophia Antipolis, France.
After returning from France, Dr Javid worked as an assistant professor and director of the Executive MBA programme at the Karachi School for Business and Leadership (KSBL). An assistant professor is treated either in grade 18 or 19 –levels of a senior section officer and deputy secretary respectively.
In total, he has an experience which is less than 10 years. But the job description requirements of the chief economist that the Planning Commission has advertised are that the applicant must be a PhD Degree holder in Economics from a reputed university or equivalent, at least 15 years solid experience in managing research programmes with around 10 years in a policy-related managerial position. He or she must have a track record of research on Pakistan in national and international research journals, while research work on emerging economies would be an added advantage.
For the post of the chief economist, he or she should be recognised locally and preferably internationally as a respected authority in high-level policy and/or research work related to development economics, impacting operational strategy, policy and programme development.
It is shocking that the government is considering to appoint Dr Javid as chief economist as this used to be a prestigious position in the past, says Dr Ashfaque Hasan Khan, a renowned economist. He says either the government is not interested in bringing in the right people or professionals are not willing to work with this government. Dr Khan says such people will serve the individuals at the expense of the state.
Historically, the chief economist position is a grade 22 post for the economist group of civil servants. The Economist Group, which is one of the technocratic groups constituted under the Civil Service Reforms of 1973, also lodged a protest with the government in August last year. The representation was given to Federal Minister for Planning, Development and Reforms Ahsan Iqbal, and Secretary Planning Hasan Nawaz Tarar.
The group is of the view that the advertisement was in violation of recruitment rules of the Economist Group, notified in December 1984 and amended in 2011.
According to the rules, “The post of chief economist of basic pay scale 22 and all posts in pay scale 21 including posts of Joint Chief Economist, Economic Adviser (BS-21) shall be filled by promotion”. The group had demanded that the government appoint a senior officer of the group as Chief Economist of Pakistan instead of hiring someone from outside the group or from the private sector.
The post has been lying vacant since July 2011 after Dr Jaffer Qamar’s resignation. Dr Qamar too had been hired from the private sector but failed to fulfill the job requirements.
Earlier, the PML-N government had interviewed applicants including Dr Talat Anwar, senior research fellow at Comsats Institute of Information Technology (CIIT) Islamabad, Dr Khalid Riaz, head of department of management sciences also at CIIT, Dr Qazi Masood, serving at the department of management of Institute of Business Administration (IBA), Dr Sajjad Akhtar, a consultant, and Ali Bat Khan, the chief of International Trade and Finance in the Planning Commission.
It had rejected all these names. If one looks at the experience of these persons all these economists are more qualified and experienced than Dr Javid.
Federal Minister for Planning, Development and Reforms defended the decision to recommend Dr Javid. “The choice is either to keep the post vacant or to have a trade off,” said Iqbal.
Iqbal said Dr Javid is relatively sound in modern economics and that is what the country needs. He acknowledged that the candidate is relatively young but said no one else was willing. “I tried to bring a reputed economist from the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund but the attempt remained unsuccessful,” said Iqbal, adding that Dr Javid meets the requirement of a minimum of 15-year experience. “I’ve brought in the best people as members of the Planning Commission and, so far, no one has questioned my selection.”
Published in The Express Tribune, August 4th, 2014.
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COMMENTS (16)
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I was a student of Dr.Nadeem at.Lums. he taught economic.policy and business.dynamics.having thoroughly benefited.from.the course , I can say with certainity.that dr nadeem had command over his.subject matter and had a keen inside into the economic.developmemt success.stories
In all the 9 tenures, the problem with the so called Sharifs, has been that, " They do not what to do , how and when ?" They just give lips serrvice. They work only for pomp and show. They do not know the meaning " Governance " , not to speak of " Good Governance". Their so called highly qualified team members are educated illiterate. That is why all their schemes during nine tenures of rule have been either toally ill-conceived or grossly mismanaged. An other example of their icompetence is that they have not been able to pull on, even for one year smoothly and have brought the country to the point of no return through their arrogant attitude. May Allah ( SWT ) save the country from any untoward incident like Model Town on 17.06.2014.
Dr. Nadeem is the right person for the job. Experienced people had been given more than enough turns but they failed to deliver because they are experienced in taking from the masses of poor population and feeding to the few capitalists and politicians of the country, hence increasing the income disparity. Young, sincere, and honest people like Dr. Nadeem are the need of time.
We need young and energetic individuals now. We have been relaying upon the old and experienced professional in the past years and we all know where are we standing. The situation cannot get worst than it is now. Dr. Nadeem seems a right choice to me. He has worked in SBP, hold PhD from a good institute, hehad taught at top universities of Pakistan i.e. LUMS & KSBL, and last but not the least, he is serious about the increasing gap between rich and poor due to income disparity. He is an honest and sincere individual, and people with these traits are rarely found in Pakistan.
Moreover, bringing people from IMF and World Bank is not in the benefit of the country. We all know what Shaukat Aziz has done to our economy. A local and patriotic person like Dr. Nadeem understands the local dynamics and problems of the poor. But if you still want feed the few capitalists, feudals and politicians than you may agree to the article.
Let's give the person a chance. "Young" people have more at stake in terms of their future employment prospects and may perform better. But what exactly is the tradeoff the minister mentions? Where this government has really really failed dismally is in the matter of appointments of regulatory bodies and state-owned enterprises. So many positions were advertised last year for so many positions...what happened to all those application? The minister says “I’ve brought in the best people as members of the Planning Commission and, so far, no one has questioned my selection.” Was there a competitive and transparent process in which he can make this claim?
Are you happy now a professional has been appointed
Yaar this is the main weakness of the democracy but what is the way out ? Nothing because average people of every society or country are average so average or in other words mediocre people used to be voted to power and naturally mediocre will appoint his hench men on important post including Chief Economists of Pakistan ? Do we know that on Noble Prize Winner is ever elected to the president of U S , the oldest functioning democracy on the planet ?
There is nothing bad in appointment of a young person provided that he/she fulfils requirements. Sad thing here is that our bureaucratic structure is too old and rusted that it has failed to provide good policy makers. We must overhaul it and introduce specialised civil service cadres. Bangladesh has done much better job then us by introducing 28 cadres of civil crevice with 21 of specialised services. I think it is need of time.
This is sad,but this is how our country is run. Please recall that in 2009 Mr.Noorul Haq Siddiqi who had PhD in Physics was appointed as Chief Economist of Sind. Sind has survived and so will Pakistan although both are and will be in bad shape
@Hassan:No Suo Moto because Its PML N and not PPP which is in power these days and Iftikhar Choudghry has retired.For CJ, who was so keen to see his name on TV screen every hour of the day for 365 days..
If genuine economists are employed in Pakistan, do you think the government can cook up growth, GDP and inflation numbers? Imagine what will happen if the real numbers are released !! Right now, Pakistan does not have any option but to cook up numbers. But how long this game can go on is anybody's guess.
Being a student of Dr. Nadeem Javaid at KSBL, I don't agree with the above article considering him having less qualified for the post. He is a dynamic professional who has a keen interest and through undersanding of the current economical, political and social problems our country is facing currently.
What is wrong with a young, highly qualified professional. This article seems to advocate the appointment of a CSS "qualified" bureaucrat or a retired general. By the way an Assistant Professor at University (not a degree college or school) is a grade 19 appointment even if you want to treat it as grade 18.
Where is a suo motto on this issue