What’s wrong with the bureaucracy?

[SOHAILSAEED123]

The News International
Friday, March 07, 2014


The civil bureaucracy is in the spotlight again. The power of the prime minister to select officers of his liking has been withdrawn and returned to the Federal Public Service Commission. The appointments and postings of officers will now be routed through the FPSC and the president is bound to approve them, according to a recent amendment in the Civil Service of Pakistan (Composition and Cadre) Rules 2014 through a statutory regulatory order (SRO).

This is big news and a step in the right direction. The bureaucracy must be de-politicised and reformed. Civil servants should be able to say ‘no’ if they feel the political overlords are going to commit a mistake. They should be able to put on record the reasons for not letting a bad decision be taken or a good decision not taken. The ‘administration’ of the country will thus be strengthened and the respect of the officers restored.

The administrative system needs more reforms in order to improve efficiency. The system deteriorated in the past two decades to the extent that it gave rise to sycophants and ’yes men’ in the bureaucracy. Such has been their fall from grace.

Both political and military governments appointed their favourites on key jobs irrespective of their reputation, leaving the rank and file of upright officers sulking quietly. The fear of punishment of good officers by being made ‘OSDs’ or by transfers to less attractive and hard area postings made even high-profile officers become political puppets.

The downfall of the bureaucracy has been so appalling that governments appointed such officers on key posts who could find devious and tricky ways, in connivance with the ruling clique, to plunder national resources and thicken the linings of their pockets.

To this extent, the amendment to the Civil Service of Pakistan (Composition and Cadre) Rules 2014 recently is a patch on the tattered state of the bureaucracy. It was also long overdue.

However, the SRO has given precedence and supremacy to the Pakistan Administrative Service (PAS) better known as the District Management Group (DMG) by increasing its quota of appointments in senior positions. This has generated jealously among other service groups. But it is true that this cadre (PAS/DMG) provided the steel frame of the administrative structure. It provided some of the best officers to run the system. But when the super structure started collapsing even the most shining officers became prone to corruption. And if not that, they succumbed to political pressures for their own survival.

For the sitting PML-N government, the step is a departure from its past practice of placing officers in positions of power so that it could rule the way it wanted. The practice of making a selection of favourite officers thus became a norm.

Qualities like efficiency and competence, the hallmarks of good civil administration, became meaningless appendages. It hardly mattered if an officer possessed excellent acumen and skill to resolve problems, delineate effective long-term policies, or if s/he possessed good decision-making abilities or had deeper insight of national affairs as a diplomat. The abilities of officers became subservient to the dictates of the rulers, civil and military. This is how the roof of the state started caving in and made Pakistan a failing state despite the fact that it possessed enough talent to become one of the leading nations of the world.

A deeper flaw in the administrative structure lies in the system of competitive examinations in which those candidates who cram more books, mostly in social sciences, excel others. The system gives no precedence to candidates who excel in administrative sciences. For instance, an MBA with top grades can't compete with another candidate who has crammed a history book. More qualified candidates lagged behind those who accumulated theoretical knowledge of arts subjects by rote learning. The choice of subjects for competing students hasn't seen any reforms or changes over decades either.

Living in a world in which specialists and professionals hold sway, the lack of them here has caused inherent flaws in the administrative machinery of the government. Professionalism nose-dived to an extent that even universities hired retired military generals as vice chancellors, more for law and order issues than for higher academic achievements.

Apart from the amendment in the service rules, the present government decided to hire professionals for several key posts in important organisations which direly need duly qualified experts with experience in the relevant branches of knowledge. The importance of the corporate culture is just dawning upon our rulers. Big corporations in Pakistan, headed by incompetent bureaucrats, have been suffering for lack of expertise.

Even various departments of the government need experts to perform better and deliver more efficiently the services of a government. By way of example, Pakistan Television Corporation and the Associated Press of Pakistan are vital organs of the state but both suffered tremendous downfall as long as they remained under bureaucratic heads. Both organisations were excellent as long as they were in the hands of professionals. Many such fertile organisations have been allowed to rot with the blessings of the bureaucracy and its bosses.

The previous government hammered the last nails in their coffins. They stuffed them and choked them with hordes of political lackeys, adding to the burden of the beast (read: the government of Pakistan). The present government is now facing the stupendous task of cleansing them. The task of downsizing carries the potential of political bickering and court interventions. But why did all this happen? Because of a toothless bureaucracy.

It is, therefore, a bit satisfying that the present government has thought of restoring the steel frame of bureaucracy but the frame has to be of stainless steel now, not the wrought-iron frame of the political foundry. A good government must aspire to look for experts and professionals so that all institutions can perform better and help the state back on its feet.

Instead of giving precedence to one service group it should set professional milestones and criteria for all officers to get through tough mid-career and senior management courses which must be conducted by professionals and academics instead of bureaucrats.

[saiqa]

There is no place for doubt bureaucracy of Pakistan strengthening day by day as very less opportunity available to held accountable bureaucracy for one. No doubt they hold & enjoy absolute power throughout country whether civil or military bureaucracy. Politicians has been toy in the hand of bureaucracy since 1947. There is need to re-organize this institution for the welfare of the people of Pakistan not for rule over poor masses.

Regards
SAIQA KHAN