Zaheer Bhatti
THE moment any sitting Government rather than relying on its performance which ought to be visible on the ground, begins to fend and reassure itself by saying that it was going nowhere, and that the next term also belonged to it, you can be sure that the ground was beginning to slip from under its feet. This is why Imran Khan out of disappointment if not frustration, demanded performance and results from his fellows to remain in the team. If international reports which are so often relied upon by respective Governments were any index, the latest World Bank Report warns Pakistan of difficulties in repayments in view of its performance in the Services and Administration sector being unable to reduce its non-development expenditure in which it ranks among the ten bottom countries of the world. It clearly shows that the Government is not fully cognizant of the dire financial straits, which is why one questions the very genesis of initiatives like the ‘Ehsaas’ Program doling out subsistence out of sums borrowed from Donor Agencies rather than out of any Government earnings through productive measures, which it could then proudly disburse to the deserving and enterprising poor and bolster its battered economy in the process. Such subsistence amounts to addicting the poor to charity rather than incentivising them to work for a living. The Government instead is engaged in cosmetics at home like the Benazir Income Support or the current ‘Ehsaas’ Emergency Cash Disbursement Program which are purely ad-hoc, which have been questioned by the very class they were meant for; several of them complaining they did not receive a dime, because the whole premise is faulty. Clearly either the households reached were wrongly identified and subjectively chosen catering only to own Party affiliates, or that the estimated poverty line was far greater than recorded. Add to it the frustration of those rendered jobless, first due to inability of the Government to generate economic activity and eating its words on the promised 10 million jobs and 5 million homes for which it has now allowed unquestioned investment in the construction industry; already the most unregulated black business in the country which is likely to play further havoc, catapulting Government’s own avowed declaration not to legitimize any financial amnesty.
All energies ought to have been focused on improving the economic index, and not just arresting but reversing the battering of the State currency on which depends the buying power of each individual. The Government has lowered bank interest rates; again benefiting the same business class which had promised increase in value-added production to boost exports, which has not happened. In the same breath it strangles the fixed income class by further lowering dividend on Special Savings Certificates in the National Savings Scheme, instead of placing limit on SSC investment to discourage exploitation of the category. Every Government has complained about malfunctioning of State-owned enterprises due to corruption but done nothing to remove the corrupt or the conduits of the menace. Except briefly reviving Pakistan Steel Mills in the past, the only key source of raw material for allied industries in Karachi, efforts at reviving principal public enterprises such as the PSM, the Pakistan International Airlines and Pakistan Railways have been found lacking.
It is public knowledge that Peoples Republic of China despite being an undemocratic country marvels in a 3.2% growth in its Economic Development Index with rest of the world going into recession, and recorded 250% growth in profit by its State-owned enterprises in the year just concluded. Will Pakistan try to find out how, and follow suit? I will tell you how without asking the Chinese; The Managers of those enterprises who are chosen through a transparent procedure strictly on merit, are paid a uniform official salary, who in turn structure and recruit their administrative and functional cadres according to their optimum use with a strict vigil over their performance and quality control, where each worker and official performs considering the enterprise as its own.
Whereas in Pakistan the Heads of State-owned enterprises invariably are political appointees with fat incommensurate pay-packages, the administrative structure of these enterprises which is profusely over-staffed, is hostage to its so-called workers unions whose office bearers and most of the workers spend regular working hours in pressuring their management on unsavoury demands, and sit on overtime payment after office hours as a matter of right. Most of the staff is recruited on political basis without merit for which rules are bent and broken at the whims and fancies of the political elite in the country; that they face accountability later, is something each one encounters but never learns any lesson from.
This is how we turn our potentially profitable and healthy State enterprises into sick units and next, aim at privatizing them at throw away prices to our favourites in return, of course, not for nothing. Things have come to such a pass that PIA once considered the top Airline of the World, which had the capacity in 1979 to buy off the famed Roosevelt Hotel located in Manhattan New York named after President Theodore Roosevelt of the United States, now unable to maintain its profitability was forced into a public-private partnership to run the prized historic possession. Pakistan was having goose bumps for well over a decade, over whether to privatize the national flag carrier; add to it the Aviation Minister’s indiscrete allegations causing suspension of PIA flyers over several international routes, irreparably damaging the prestige of the Airline. With a little determination provided that the nation was alive to the sense of pride in its national assets, all these noted State enterprises and many more can be turned around in a matter of months not years, should you have the will to do so. Just get rid of excessive dead wood in most of these enterprises and get merited managers; not political appointees to run them and you will see results.
—The writer is a media professional, member of Pioneering team of PTV and a veteran ex Director Programmes.
