In the absence of bosses, the Sindh government’s various departments suffer from bad governance, or the complete lack of it. DESIGN: MOHSIN ALAM
The rise of the mediocrities in the Sindh government has led to an overall decline in the quality of governance in the province. Bad governance does not happen by chance; it has to be made to happen, and Sindh has tried very hard when it comes to getting it comprehensively wrong. Government departments everywhere in the world need somebody to lead them, and they function badly if there is nobody at the captain’s table. A large number of government departments and institutions in the province are currently working without a manager or director to oversee them. In a number of cases, the person who was ‘in charge’ has fled the country as a rising tide of accountability and transparency lays bare their alleged wrongdoings. In theory, this is better than having a corrupt person with their hands on the levers of power, but if they are not replaced, and swiftly, with a competent replacement, decay quickly sets in.
Posts are filled ‘pro-tem’ often by somebody who was junior to the person now gone AWOL. They are appointed and reappointed in revolving-door fashion and do not have the delegated authority to conduct the business of whichever department or organisation they are temporarily heading. Anarchy quickly prevails and given that virtually all of the departments lacking a head are delivering some sort of public service, then the general public is increasingly poorly served. Other senior civil servants are also jostling for position as they seek to take charge of what may be highly lucrative posts. Many more junior officials do not turn up to work for fear of being arrested by one of the law-enforcement agencies. The charges being made against some officials are extremely serious — that they were involved in targeted killings and extortion for instance.
Sindh is being badly governed at every level and across every department that has a responsibility for delivering public services. There is no excuse for this lamentable state of affairs and the only remedy is the one least likely to be implemented — a ruthless cull of the mediocrities. Sadly, the state of the civil service is such that it mass-produces mediocrities. And the cause of this malaise? Education, education and education.
Published in The Express Tribune, August 18th, 2015.
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