BUREUCRACY undoubtedly is the single most important arm to implement the vision and policies of any government.
However, over the last few years it has been seen that top bureaucrats are not working wholeheartedly out of fear of National Accountability Bureau (NAB).
In an interview with a private television channel on Tuesday, Finance Minister Shaukat Tarin, said the NAB law will be amended in the next few weeks to address the concerns of bureaucrats.
He specifically mentioned that earlier LNG was imported from Qatar at 13.7% above Brent rate and later on at 10.4% above the Brent rate. Despite such a lower import rate, the NAB has summoned the files of the agreement.
Indeed there should not be unnecessary interference in the matters of bureaucracy as doing so will cause serious dent to service delivery and bring everything to a standstill. Government will also not be able to execute the projects it has envisaged for the country.
The bureaucracy already on many occasions have furnished their concerns regarding the NAB saying the practice of arrest and summons on trivial grounds, aimed at humiliating well respected civil servants is against the principles of good governance and hence not acceptable.
It is worrisome that actions against civil servants in many cases were based not on the material evidence of wrongdoing but on judgment in a particular case, which may appear to be flawed at a future point.
Promises of bringing changes in the NAB laws were also made previously but time has come to transform such assurances into legal protection by making substantive amendments to the law.
We will suggest that the consensus changes should be brought to the NAB law after contacting the opposition parties which must also demonstrate flexibility in its stance.
Civil service reforms are also facing a long delay. The government must finalize and implement them at the earliest addressing some of the chronic issues faced by the civil service such as political interference to improve the governance system.
