Govt ignored its own plan to end corruption

By Ansar Abbasi

ISLAMABAD: Pakistan's sharp downslide as one of the most corrupt nations in the world in 2010 is the consequence of Prime Minister Syed Yousuf Raza Gilani's utter failure to implement a reforms programme prepared by his own government to check corruption and improve governance.Government sources said that the National Governance Plan, prepared by a high-level committee headed by the then Finance Minister Shaukat Tareen, remained untouched while there had also been no progress in the implementation of the restructuring programme of the eight corruption-hit and badly mismanaged loss making leading public sector enterprises by September 1.

Additionally, it is said that the promise of setting up of a new accountability commission still remains unfulfilled. The sources said that after the issuance of 2009 report of Transparency International, which showed Pakistan overtaking five most corrupt nations to become 42nd from the previous 47th most corrupt country in the world, the prime minister constituted some official committees to introduce reforms to check corruption and bad governance.

Interestingly, the reforms plan was prepared and submitted to the government but the prime minister did not implement any of the recommended reforms. As a consequence, both corruption and bad governance touched new heights in Pakistan.

On Tuesday, the Transparency International found Pakistan slipping from the 2009's 42nd position to the present (2010) 34th most corrupt country in the world. In April-May this year, Shaukat Tareen, just before leaving the government, submitted to the prime minister a "National Governance Plan" that sought from Gilani to take some bold initiatives and undergo radical changes in the present day's governance to improve governance and check corruption.

The National Governance Plan recommended an immediate cut in the size of the federal secretariat by reducing the number of federal ministries down to 30; giving protection of tenure to key bureaucrats and heads of government organisations; introducing of motorway policing model throughout the country; replacement of patwaris by revenue assistants to be appointed by the public service commissions; rationalisation (reduction) in the size of the Prime Minister's Secretariat; working out a new code of working relationship between a minister and a secretary; pay to government servants on the basis of performance; revision of Government Lands Act 1912 for better and transparent allocation and utilisation of state land; filling of strategic positions through open competition; and computerisation of land revenue record, court cases, police record, property tax, etc. None of these reforms has been implemented as yet.

The plan also expected from the present government to fix the minimum tenure of service for secretaries of the cabinet, finance, interior, establishment, provincial chief secretaries and heads of police departments, and any other such position to three years. In case of all other federal secretaries, the term of the tenure, the plan recommended, be protected for two years.

Similar protection of tenure was recommended for provincial home secretaries, heads of police and other similar positions at the provincial level.The plan also proposed restructuring of the Establishment Division into a professional human resource department of the Government of Pakistan having special emphasis on career management and training of the government servants.

It recommended that pay for performance may be introduced with five performance criteria i.e. excellent, very good, good, average and below average. Bonus and rewards for excellent performers along with a punitive framework with regards to promotions may be devised.

Tareen's National Governance Plan also recommended that Annual Confidential Report (ACR) of the government servants may be replaced with a redesigned open ended performance evaluation report in which goal and targets are set at the beginning of the tenure along with key performance indicators, which are tailored to reflect the scope of work and range of responsibilities relevant to each job.

The report sought restructuring of the key public sector institutions by appointing professional CEOs/head of organisations, whose appointment should be ratified by parliament. They should then be ring-fenced to act independently on financial and professional matters.

Government, it was proposed, should carry out restructuring of all public sector enterprises to improve service delivery, enhance transparency and avoid fiscal burden on the exchequer. However, nothing has been done as yet in this regard.

Restructuring of the Federal Board of Revenue (FBR) has also been proposed and it was recommended that the FBR may be reformed with the aim of increasing the tax/GDP ratio, widening the tax base, simplifying tax laws, creating a transparent and easy to understand tax structure and fostering a culture of voluntary tax compliance through strategies to deter, detect and address non-compliance.

The report also sought strengthening of regulatory authorities by having reconstituted autonomous boards with appropriate private sector participation and an effective CEO, authorised to develop their own code of conduct and a strong management system.

Gilani had committed early this year to restructure Pakistan International Airlines Corporation, Pakistan Railways, Pakistan Steel Mills Corporation, Pakistan Electric Power Company Limited, Trading Corporation of Pakistan, Pakistan Agriculture Services and Storage Corporation, Utility Stores Corporation and the National Highway Authority, which instead of earning profits for the government are eating up hundreds of billions of rupees from the public exchequer because of massive corruption and mismanagement.

The prime minister had announced to restructure these public sector enterprises by changing their board of directors, appointment of new managing directors, CEOs and directors, approval of restructuring plans and starting of the implementation plans. September 1 was set as the deadline for this task but the Gilani government failed to do this and instead started plaguing organisations like OGDCL, State Life of Pakistan Corporation and others by making controversial appointments.