THOUGH roles and responsibilities of all organs of the government including ministries and divisions are clearly defined either in the Constitution or Rules of Business but initiative of Prime Minister Imran Khan for signing of Performance Contracts with all ministries and divisions would not only put them under obligation/pressure to deliver but also make them accountable in better sense of the word as each of them has been assigned targets to achieve. This is, indeed, a comprehensive road-map that the Government intends to follow to improve governance, resolve problems and difficulties of the people and tackle the challenges facing the country.
Of course, the targets mentioned in the contracts have mostly been worked out by the relevant ministries themselves and it should not be a problem for them to realize them but an agreement in black and white would force them to work hard to implement ideas, plans and programmes. In the past, many of the plans and pledges that the ministries or ministers made were either lip service or confined just to papers and no practical efforts were made to deliver as per commitment and expectations of the people. Signing of performance contracts between the Prime Minister and his cabinet colleagues is a clear message that the chief executive means business and would not entertain any excuse for non-fulfilment of the targets. However, there needs to be effective and regular monitoring of progress on implementation so that there is no shock for anyone at the end of the year. The exercise is unlikely to prove meaningful without proper accountability and penalties for non-realization of the targets. The remarks of the Prime Minister that inexperience would no longer be an excuse in this regard and that the PTI Government has only two and a half years to deliver indicate that Imran Khan was mindful of the reality that not much time was left at the disposal of the incumbent Government. We have repeatedly been pointing out in these columns that the present Government launched a number of initiatives that could change the destiny of the people but lethargic attitude of the relevant ministries/divisions/institutions have deprived people of the intended benefits. Contract agreements of every ministry should be publicized so that besides Prime Minister people of Pakistan too could evaluate their performance and judge their output. There is also rationality in the proposal by the Prime Minister that the incoming Governments should be timely, properly and exhaustively briefed so that they are able to comprehend intricacies of governance and start delivering from the very beginning. In fact, the Committee system of Parliament is the best forum for MPs of both sides to learn about working of ministries but unfortunately Parliament is not assigned the importance and priority that it deserves.
