Jobs on sale: In the game of musical chairs, civic bodies fail to deliver

Officials of the local bodies ministry selling coveted posts to fill their pockets.

KARACHI: The heaps of rubbish piling up on the decrepit roads, choked drains and leaking water pipelines that have come to define the city's landscape reflect the total collapse of municipal services.

Some officials in the Karachi Metropolitan Corporation, while admitting failure in the municipal delivery system, attribute this state of affairs to too frequent and politically-motivated transfers and postings of officials in the six district municipal corporations of the city.

According to one official employed in the local bodies department, the disorder in municipal agencies is courtesy of a senior member of the provincial cabinet who is accused of taking hefty amounts to appoint people on the posts of civic agencies.

But independent observers believe that local government department is not an exception. In Sindh, everything is up for sale. From SHOs to teachers, sanitary workers to senior officials, all must pay to be appointed to the coveted posts in government departments.

Another official explained that the minister was filling his own pockets at the expense of the city's upkeep. The frequent appointments and transfers in the Karachi Metropolitan Corporation, the six district municipal corporations and the local bodies department have brought routine work and operational activities to a standstill and no development projects have been successfully completed since a long time.

"If someone wants a senior post in the KMC or a district municipal corporation, he must settle the matter with the local government official," claimed the source.

Referring to irregularities in DMC Central, the source said that on August 25, last year, the administrator Afaq Saeed was removed from the post through court orders. The former had been occupying the post illegal for quite a long time. In his place, Latif Lodhi was appointed.

"After a few months, however, the KMC removed Lodhi from the post and appointed Mustafa Kamal as the administrator. Meanwhile, Lodhi was appointed as the municipal commissioner," he explained. Hardly a few months had passed when the local bodies department notified the appointment of Kamal Ahmed to the administrator's post, relieving Mustafa Kamal of his duties.

According to the source, transfers and postings in civic bodies and the local government have become a joke. The frequency of such transfers, appointments and reappointments was the very reason why no important administrative decisions had been made thus far.

"Jobs in DMCs and KMC have been put up for trading and are being sold to the highest bidder," he claimed. He added that the game of musical chairs has broken all records of corruption while the department has collapsed, leaving nowhere for citizens to approach for the resolution of their problems.

The source further pointed out that the post of DMC East administrator has been vacated and filled five times over the past year and a half. "During this period, Naeem ul Haq Afandi, Sami Siddiqui, Manzoor Abbasi, Kamal Mustafa and Masroor Memon have all been appointed at the post of administrator," he said.

"Only last year, Kamal Mustafa had been appointed as the municipal commissioner in DMC East. A day later, a senior official at the local bodies ministry had appointed Manzoor Abbasi to the post." The source added that Manzoor Abbasi had proved to be a senior player in this game of musical chairs as he was appointed as an administrator once and as a municipal commissioner thrice.

According to the source, municipal commissioner Manzoor Abbasi and administrator Nadir Wassan were always busy in meetings with contractors, instead of carrying out development works in their respective jurisdictions.

He said that the ill designs of Manzoor Abbasi were proved that when he promoted his favourite officers out of turn and was found to be involved in violating the rules and regulations for promtions.

Another example is district Malir, where five administrators have been changed. DMC Korangi has also seen three administrators since its formation a year ago.

"These frequent transfers and postings point towards the fact that  that someone in a high post at the local bodies ministry is involved in these illegal practices to fulfill his own pockets" he concluded.  

Published in The Express Tribune, September 9^th, 2014.