WHEN a building collapses in Pakistan — and sadly this happens often — and people lie there injured and dying, the inevitable debate begins about whether the building was constructed as per approved standards. A factory catches fire, literally reducing to ashes over 250 lives because no fire exits were available for those working there and the fire crash tenders called in to extinguish the blaze are unable to do so. A school bus carrying children breaks down on the road resulting once again in injury and death because, of course, the bus was not certified as roadworthy.

Quite literally, to add insult to injury, in all three examples when the dead and injured are finally taken to the emergency department of the nearest government hospital to be treated, the staff is found to be barely qualified and ill-equipped to deal with such a large number of patients.

So what are we to make of this never-ending cycle of neglect and incompetence? Well, staring us in the face is the fact that the state and all its requisite parts are becoming increasingly incapable of meeting the challenges of governance. We talk a lot these days of Pakistan’s existential war against militancy, extremism and terrorism; however, our children are unable to attend school because their parents cannot afford to send them there; these children end up at madressahs where they are willingly provided with shelter and food, as well as a paranoid worldview which is more dangerous than anything else.

What are we to make of this never-ending cycle of neglect and incompetence?

For years, we have debated whether or not our institutions are capable of delivery and how our civil service suffers from capacity constraints to cope with the multiple crises of governance that beset it. It would appear that with the present state of our human resource capacity and weakened state institutions; improvement in governance is something that remains a distant dream. Further delaying long-awaited decisions related to civil service reforms will only prolong the misery that the average Pakistani faces on a regular basis.

The present government is fortunate to have been elected as the single largest party in parliament and unlike the previous dispensation it is not dependent on coalition partners for the implementation of its reform agenda which includes reforming the civil service.

A number of commissions on civil service reforms have been constituted in the past. Of these Dr Ishrat Husain’s report is most relevant; however, the recommendations of this commission could not be implemented due to the lack of political will. Dr Husain’s commission deliberated on multiple issues of governance in the country for a period of almost two years in consultation with all stakeholders. The commission’s members comprised eminent individuals from various fields and I was privileged to have been its secretary.

In its final report, the commission recommended restructuring the civil services into four types — all Pakistan, federal, provincial and district. It also recommended that the sources for recruitment for the civil services be widened and diversified. The report of the commission mentioned a hundred key public institutions in the country which have a critical impact on economic and social outcomes and suggested that their governance structures be made transparent and merit-based, minimising discretionary powers.

The report went on to discuss performance appraisal, promotion policy and career management as well as how the rules, processes and procedures could be simplified. Dr Ishrat Husain’s report was an outcome of extensive discussions on all aspects of the current state of the civil services and gave recommendations for improvements in all areas of government. An implementation strategy for selected recommendations would bring about a marked improvement in the performance of the civil services and improve delivery. The government can simply use this report and other work already done on civil service reforms to come up with an agenda of its own.

A transparent way forward to implement civil service reforms would be for the present government to immediately notify a civil service reform team. The team must comprise members representing all the different regions of Pakistan as well as all the various services/groups and should not be only from the Pakistan Administrative Service previously known as the District Management Group.

A few eminent Pakistanis who have excelled in their respective fields should also be included in this team. The team should then be given a few weeks to go through the reports of previous commissions and compile a set of recommendations to meet present-day requirements and demands for improved governance and service delivery.

These recommendations can then be presented to the prime minister who after adding his own, can ask the Establishment Division to prepare a summary in consultation with other relevant ministries such as finance and law, and the Planning Commission in its new and expanded role as a implementer of reforms. After being presented to the federal cabinet for their approval the proposal should be taken to parliament for debate and legislation. This would give the reform proposals legitimacy, with parliamentary endorsement providing the government the usually elusive political will and would make implementation much more effective and less fraught with objections.

As the civil services have a huge share in the provinces, it is essential to subsequently involve the Council of Common Interests in this exercise in order to meet the legal and procedural requirements.

In order for good governance to become the norm, we cannot rely on this practice of constituting a committee or commission in the aftermath of every crisis or disaster; rather it needs to be ensured that the system itself is so effective that it is able to determine the causes of failure in each case and also to hold individuals and departments accountable without the prime minister having to personally take notice every time. The current fragmented approach that exists to deal with crises cannot address the challenges posed to governance and service delivery in a holistic manner.

The writer is a former cabinet secretary.

Published in Dawn, February 20th, 2015

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