Pakistan’s prime need a real bureaucracy


‘Aren’t bureaucrats the source of our national failures,’ we ask? Their corruption, nepotism and customary incompetence have often been a scourge on Pakistan. Yet, the question is why the Pakistani bureaucracy is so ill-organised? The paradox is that if the state has to provide services, administer justice, maintain law and order and bring about prosperity, and if it has to be effective, it has to have a good bureaucracy. A country of 180 million people cannot be managed as a tribe on the basis of personal dealings and Jirga morality. It needs rules–based and impersonal decision-making, which is the hallmark of a real bureaucracy. To rebuild Pakistan, the first priority should be to restructure the bureaucracy, because that is the ‘machine’ that maintains law and order, implements public policies and produces services.
Pakistan’s civil services worked relatively effectively until the 1960s. The British legacy of requiring public servants to resist social pressures and act according to rules lasted a few years after 1947. But our clannish proclivities could not bear the relative neutrality and inapproachability of civil servants. Steadily, the walls between the public and private interests were breached. Thus began the rot of public services, which continues unabated.
Public servants began to be rewarded and punished for their willingness to collude with politicians, notables and the military. The deadly blow to the bureaucracy’s professionalism and integrity was given by the Prime Minister Bhutto, who removed the constitutional security of tenure for civil servants. After that the authority to post, transfer or retire began to be used to beat public officials into submission. What he began was completed by the president Zia ul-Haq and Prime ministers Nawaz Sharif and Benazir Bhutto.
President Musharraf packed civil services with military officers at the top, and politicised local administration from the bottom. The erosion of professionalism in public services has further accelerated in this round of the PPP’s rule. Provincial administrations, though weak to begin with, have gone down the same path. Politicians and the military have demoralised the bureaucracy, turning it into a collection of self-serving individuals, instead of an institution based on rules, the hierarchy of authority, accountability and professional ethics.
Not that political rulers should have no part in public administration. They lay down the laws, define objectives and decide strategic policies. Yet, transforming laws and policies into actions is the job of professional bureaucracy, to be carried in transparent and accountable ways. Bureaucracy can be effective only if it has the assurance of protection from the vindictive actions of rulers.
Recently, the Supreme Court has started taking notice of the ministerial nepotism and arbitrariness in the appointments and promotions of officials. It is a good start to restore public officials’ rights. This initiative should be followed by a bill to enact the security of tenure and containment of the discretionary powers of rulers for appointments, transfers and promotions of public officials. The reconstruction of Pakistan’s bureaucracies has to begin with restoring the rule of rules in public services and ensuring security of tenure with accountability.
Pakistan’s bureaucracies are plagued by many ills other than insecurity and loss of professionalism. There is a wide-ranging confusion about the standards of right and wrong. This confusion arises from the mores of corruption and nepotism, but it has been compounded by the clannish loyalties, notions of piety and narratives of Islamic religiosity, which provide justifications for disregarding institutional ethics.
Pakistan’s bureaucracy needs new codes of ethics for public responsibilities. A wide ranging exercise should be undertaken to formulate detailed codes of conduct for various services. A new moral order of public service has to be framed and enacted.
Apart from changing the behaviourial norms of the bureaucracy, its structure and processes need a major overhaul. All steps in the public decision-making processes, from record keeping, information gathering, noting and drafting to the decision criteria and performance evaluation of officials have ossified.
To witness how a Pakistani agency becomes dysfunctional, a new book by an American anthropologist is a must read. It shows how the administrative procedures of Islamabad’s Capital Development Authority breed the failure of its policies and induce corruption. It is a peep inside the Pakistani bureaucracy. (Matthew S. Hull, ‘Government of Paper’, Berkeley: University of California Press, 2012). To reconstruct bureaucracies, extensive and sustained efforts, spread over years, have to be made to rewrite rulebooks, redefine rules and reorganise responsibilities. A task that does not need large resources or foreign aid but imagination, knowledge and commitment.
Finally, administrative reconstruction cannot be sustained without the transparency of decision-making and enactment of citizens’ right to information and answerability. Exposure of public agencies to the citizens’ scrutiny and the media’s gaze will make them efficient and reduce the scope of corruption.
This is the moment to bring administrative reforms to the top of the election agenda. National elections are upon us. Political parties are making loud promises of bringing peace, establishing law and order, creating jobs, ending load-shedding and controlling corruption. If they are sincere in these promises, they would have to realise that public agencies are the instruments for carrying out their programmes. Civil society and the media should mount a strong campaign to make administrative reforms as the top priority for the platforms of political parties.

DAWN

The last knight of Islamabad

ISLAMABAD: Even in the foggy nights of Islamabad these days, when one can barely see the long end of the roadside, I am compelled to remember a fine man who contributed his maximum to make this city more organised and beautiful. Kamran Lashari aka KL, the ex-chairman of the Capital Development Authority (CDA) and renowned civil servant, has done much for this city.
Islamabad has a suburban side to its lifestyle but KL made every effort to change this perception, as well as the lifestyle of the locals. Next time you visit Monal or the Margalla Hills late at night, remember that in pre-KL times, no one used to drive up the hills because of the high probability of being looted. The restaurants and terraces that oversee Islamabad, the structured roads and parks are now among the many features of Islamabad. After the end of KL’s tenure, many of his projects have been either shelved altogether or have witnessed unending delays due to red tape and our tendency of blaming the last office-bearer to hide the incompetence of the current ones.
I believe that KL must be given due credit for the great job he did. It is one man’s determination that can not only change a city but also the lives of close to a million who reside there. Hats off to Lashari and his ilk for making a difference, howsoever small, in our drab existence and showing us that better things are possible.
Saeed Hassan

The Express Tribune

Rewarding senior bureaucrats

ISLAMABAD: According to reports, 33 senior bureaucrats have been promoted to Pay Scale 22 (status of a federal secretary), a dream position for a civil servant. In the past, the position of federal secretary was the exclusive prerogative of an elite service, the Civil Service of Pakistan. The name was changed to District Management Group in the wake of the administrative reforms of 1973, carried out by Zulfikar Ali Bhutto’s government. The present government has approved a new title, the Pakistan Administrative Service (PAS), which is basically old wine in a new bottle. Most of the officers who have been promoted belong to this service. An unprecedented number of bureaucrats have been promoted to BPS-22 during the last four years, including officers belonging to the Foreign Service, the Police Service, Customs and the Secretariat Group to accommodate favourite officers.
The package that a federal secretary or a BPS-22 officer gets is quite lucrative. It comes with a hefty salary, foreign trips and perks and access to a fleet of cars belonging to the attached departments, autonomous organisations and projects that come under the ministry. After retirement, a BPS-22 officer gets a residential plot in Islamabad and a government-paid driver and orderly. A federal secretary and his spouse are also entitled to gratis official passport for life.
The basic responsibility of the bureaucracy is to formulate economic and social policies for the welfare of the people and for their safety and security. Has our bureaucracy fulfilled this responsibility? The country is facing serious crises, the most devastating of which is the energy one, which affects the entire economy. In such a situation, how can the government justify promoting its own employees to such high posts?
Asghar Mahmood


The Express Tribune

NAB recruitment process

THIS is apropos of a notice being flashed on the website of the National Accountability Bureau (NAB) regarding ‘update on recruitment in NAB’ whereby the Islamabad High Court has issued restraining order on the writ petition filed by some candidates who perhaps didn’t make it to the interview stage.

Owing to the restraining order, NAB is unable to issue appointment letters to selected candidates for BPS 1 to 19. I would like to draw the attention of the authorities concerned to the matter that for some time on social media it is being bandied about that these would-be appointments are politically motivated and all or some candidates are destined to get the job due to their political affiliations and at the cost of deserving candidates.

Some sections of the media are also bent on finding a political link to these appointments. It is my concern and also duty to present facts that the undersigned is also a candidate (BPS 18) and knows dozens of others who took the test, got through and then sat for the psychological test. At this point many of my acquaintances couldn’t make to the next stage but some did.

The candidates who made it are not well-wheeled rather ordinary folks working in BPS 17 and 18 in different federal and provincial government departments, as well as in public sector enterprises (PSEs).

The timing of election season and completion of recruitment process is just a coincidence and doesn’t establish causation. It is my appeal to the authorities adjudicating on the writ petition to decide it early as the legitimate concerns of petitioners must be resolved in letter and in spirit of the law, but at the same time letting extraneous matters to muddy the whole recruitment process would do harm to 400 plus families of legitimate and deserving candidates. The recruitment process has already taken well over a year now.

A CANDIDATE
Chishtian

Dawn

Lucrative posts: travesty of justice

ACCORDING to media reports, 33 senior bureaucrats have been promoted to pay-scale 22 (status of a federal secretary), a dream position for every civil servant.

In the past, the position of the federal secretary was the exclusive prerogative of an elite service, the Civil Service of Pakistan. The name was changed to District Management Group in the wake of Administrative Reforms of 1973, introduced by the ZAB government.

The present government has approved a new title, Pakistan Administrative Service (PAS). This is an old wine in a new bottle. Most of the promoted officers belong to this service.

An unprecedented number of bureaucrats have been promoted to BPS 22 during the last four years, including officers belonging to FSP, PAAS, PSP, Customs, and SG to accommodate favourite officers.

The package of the position of a federal secretary or a BPS 22 officer is really lucrative: hefty salary, foreign trips and perks, including a fleet of cars belonging to attached departments, autonomous organisations and projects.

After retirement, a BPS 22 officer gets an additional expensive residential plot in Islamabad, a government-paid driver and an orderly.

A federal secretary and his spouse are entitled to gratis official passport for life.

The basic responsibility of bureaucracy is to formulate economic and social policies for the welfare of the people and their safety and security. Has our bureaucracy fulfilled this responsibility?

The country is facing a serious crisis: most devastating is the energy crisis affecting industry, commerce, transport, agriculture and domestic consumers of gas and electricity. Insecurity in the country is scaring away foreign investment, tourists and even cricket teams.

Inflation and unemployment are forcing people to commit suicide and resort to extremism, tarnishing the image of Pakistan abroad.

Seen in this scenario, expansion and promotion in the bureaucracy seems unjustified.

ASGHAR MAHMOOD
Islamabad

Dawn

NAB’s recruitment process

The recruitment process in NAB started in November 2011 when the bureau advertised several different posts through different newspapers.
In June 2012, tests were held for the said posts through the National Testing Service. A merit-based cut-off was set and successful candidates were called for psychological tests, which were held in August the same year. After that, successful candidates were called for interviews, which were held in October and November 2012.
A high level of transparency was shown throughout the whole process but NAB authorities are unable to issue appointment letters due to a restraining order issued by the Islamabad High Court (IHC).
Since CSS examinations are going to be held from February 23 and will last two weeks, I appeal to the authorities concerned that if the stay order is lifted by the IHC, the training of the successful candidates should start immediately after the CSS examinations, and not before, to prevent wasting the precious chance of many CSS aspirants who are likely to be selected in NAB.

Express Tribune

Promotion policy change irks bureaucrats

By Baqir Sajjad Syed

2/5/2013

ISLAMABAD, Feb 4: Bureaucrats are up in arms against a newly added time clause in the promotion policy from BS-20 to BS-21, threatening legal action if their concerns are not addressed.

The additions to the promotion policy, approved by Prime Minister Raja Pervez Ashraf, are being seen as pro-District Management Group the most pampered of all the occupational groups and being detrimental to the career prospects of civil servants in 10 other groups.

The groups to be most affected by the new requirements include Office Management, Information, Income Tax, Customs, Accounts, Military Lands and Cantonment, Commerce, Railways and Postal Services.

The establishment division last week notifled the amended policy with an additional requirement of at least three-year service in BS-20, excluding the period spent in training, as an eligibility criterion for promotion.

`The condition of having three years of service (excluding the period spent on training and leave) in BS-20 shall also be applicable to all promotions to BS-21 of the officers of all occupational groups / services/ ex-cadre as a mandatory stay,` the notification said.

While the bureaucrats consider the condition unjustified because of not getting promotions on time, unlike the DMG, Foreign Service and Police, they are particularly upset over exclusion of the period spent in training on the government`s nominations for theMCMC, SMC, NMC and NDU, which they say is part of their service.

The controversy has arisen ahead of a meeting of the Central Selection Board scheduled for Feb 11-12 to fill 21 vacancies in BS-21.

Affected officers believe the additional requirement is in violation of Articles 27 and 240 of the Constitution; the Civil Servants Act and Rules of Business.

They said no consultation had been done either with the controlling ministries of the affected occupational groups or the Law Ministry which was mandatory while making such significant changes in the service structure.

The affected officers also met the prime minister to convey their reservations. An officer present at the meeting quoted the premier as having asked Establishment Secretary Taimur Azmat Osman: `Why don`t you care about your fellows?` The officers insist that the prime minister has been `duped` by the establishment division into signing the summary.

`Asif Sheikh, the Joint Secretary who initiated the summary for PM`s approval, has cheated him by not disclosing that terms and conditions of the civil servants at midand upper-career levels cannot be changed without changing the basic structure of the Civil Servants Act of 1973 through an amendment tabled in parliament,` an officer said.

The affected officers have accused Mr Sheikh of making additions in the promotion policy in order to enable his personal promotion to BS-21.

Dawn.

Appointments at Wafaqi Mohtasib


ISLAMABAD: After assuming the additional charge of federal ombudsman, Wafaqi Mohtasib Salman Farooqi took strategic decisions to activate this important statutory body to clear a backlog of 75,000 complaints and grievances regarding malpractices in government agencies. Qualified persons were invited to indicate interest for the positions of advisers, consultants and investigation officers and a deadline of December 29, 2012, was set. Short-listed candidates were invited to the secretariat for interview.

How prime minister was manipulated by Baboos

Umar Cheema
Saturday, February 09, 2013

ISLAMABAD: Prime Minister Raja Pervaiz Ashraf has literally been duped by the Establishment Division which first got his approval on a summary seeking changes in the promotion rules and then sought his disapproval of the same.

The entire exercise of doing and undoing this approval was done within 45 days reflecting the state of confusion in the decision-making process at the top level.

The PM was first asked to alter the rules for promotion from BS-20 to BS-21 so that the officers who served in BS-20 for three and half years should be considered instead of the previous criteria of having completed 22-year total length of service for promotion to the next scale.

A summary in this respect was moved on December 21, 2012 and approved three-days later.The move was designed to ditch the officers of Secretariat Group and to slow subsequent rapid promotions of District Management Group (DMG) cadre, now renamed as Pakistan Administrative Service (PAS).

The entire exercise was carried out without consultations with the stakeholders. Nor the Finance/Law Ministries were consulted.As the PM’s approval sparked resentment among the officers of the Secretariat Group who threatened to move the court, another summary was moved on January 9, 2013 seeking the disapproval of the last decision that was finally done on February 8, 2013.

A spokesman of the PM confirmed the reversal of the earlier order. He sidestepped the question why the PM was put in an embarrassing situation of approving and then disapproving his own orders.

“We should focus on one thing,” the spokesman said, “that at the end of the day, a correct decision has been made.”Asked if the opinion of the law division and finance division was sought before moving such a summary, he said: “Normally it is done,” but feigned ignorance whether the procedure was followed in this case or not.

The News tried to contact the Secretary Establishment Taimoor Azmat Osman several times and text message was also sent explaining the subject on which his version was required. He did not respond.

The Principal Information Officer of PID Azam Khan was also approached but he said he was not authorized to speak on the issues of other ministries.

A copy of the first summary available with The News reveals that the effort was aimed at to bring ahead the PAS officers. Without mentioning the rapid promotion of the officers of PAS and other groups considered superior to the Secretariat Group, the summary said that the Secretariat Group officers receive rapid promotions to BS-21 for qualifying the criteria regarding the prescribed length of service. On the other hand, the officers of PAS and others are unable to qualify for it due to the given criteria.

The summary further explains that “BS-21 officer is supposed to take decision at strategic level being the holder of top management position. The quality of the decision making is likely to be compromised if the officers without reasonable experience at tactical level are promoted to BS-21.” The officers of Secretariat Group, the summary goes on, had an average stay of 10.18 years in BS-20 at the time of their promotion to BS-21 in 2002 which has now been reduced to 2.43 years in 2011, including the period spent on training.

As such, the summary goes on, the officers of Secretariat Group with a limited experience would be promoted to BS-21 which would not only deprive far more senior and experienced officers of other services of their due right but also compromise the policymaking at the top level due to “premature promotion of less experienced and junior officers.” As the summary secured approval, a notification by the Establishment Division followed that said the condition of three-year service in BS-20 (excluding the period spent on training and leave) shall be “applicable to all promotions to BS-21.”

The notification sparked resentment among the Secretariat Group officers who first conveyed their concerns to the PM. Later a meeting was arranged with the Secretary Establishment. A new summary was moved echoing the concerns of the protesting officers and finally the PM restored the previous criteria. How it made the PM and the political leadership look like amateur is something no one is ready to take responsibility for.

The News

The IB’s autonomy


ISLAMABAD: It is correct that the Intelligence Bureau (IB) of Pakistan is not a notified division of the Government of Pakistan like many other divisions. However, its chief has always enjoyed a unique position in the administrative hierarchy of the government, especially those handpicked by political bosses.