Publication Date

12-22-2014

Description

Pakistan has been facing a unique and difficult dilemma for quite some time. Government leaders of the day are unhappy that they are unable to deliver upon the commitments they had made to the electorate at the time of the elections. Policy-Performance Gap is widening every day, Decision making is slow and implementation of decisions almost non-existent. Credibility of each successive government is eroding rapidly among the public at large creating trust deficit in the political leadership. The citizens and society are highly disenchanted and dissatisfied as they are unable to access basic services the state has to provide to each citizen – Security of life and property, administration of justice, education, healthcare, water, sanitation, infrastructure, electricity, gas, prices stability etc. If each crisis that Pakistan is facing today – energy shortages, low tax revenues, losses of public enterprises, corruption, poor law and order, arms, drug smuggling, non-availability of land, housing and transport – is carefully dissected and examined, the root cause will be found in governance deficit and institutional decay. Civil services have lost their dynamism, vigour and sense of mission. Parliament is not properly exercising the vigilance over the Executive Branch and holding them accountable for results, the court system is overloaded and congested with millions of cases lingering on for long periods of time. Institutions of restraint such as the Elections Commission, Auditor General of Pakistan, Public Services Commissions etc. have become controversial.

Notes

Keynote address delivered at Pakistan Governance Forum 2014 held at Islamabad on December 22, 2014 by the Ministry of Planning, Development and Reforms

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