Essay on Good Governance

8/10/2019 Essay on Good Governance

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ESSAY ON GOOD GOVERNANCE

1. INTRODUCTION: Governance implies control, direction, and rule with authority or administers laws to governa system to achieve certain objectives. Good Governance implies running administrationaccording to the defined laws to achieve the objective of promoting the welfare of thepeople in a democratic oriented order. Bad governance means departing from the norms oflaws and subjecting system of administration to whims, idiosyncrasies of the rulers toachieve certain ulterior motives at the cost of national interests. The hallmark of great nations is that they learn from their past experience to become wiserin conducting their current and future affairs. Another distinctive feature of such nations isthat they try to understand the emerging long-term trends to identify new challenges, andplan for the future so as to take maximum advantage of the opportunities and avoid thepitfalls that may lie ahead. On the other hand, the nations on the trajectory of decay and ultimate oblivion neither learnfrom the past nor have the inclination to look ahead into the future to plan for their security,progress and welfare. All it lacks in the context of Pakistan; socially, economically andpolitically as well.

In the words of Mahbbub-ul-Ha q, Crisis in Governance, Human Development Report inSouth Asia: Governance is the exercise of political, economic and administrative authority to managethe resources of a country. It is always based upon certain rules and laws established by themembers of a society. These laws agreed upon by the society are, in fact, to makegovernance pro-welfare in the larger interest of the people. The ultimate goal of governanceis human development through decreasing human suffering and increasing opportunities . He further writes:

Good Governance is exercising authority in accordance with the established laws, and anydigression or subversion from these laws is bad governance. Whereas Good Governanceguarantees safety and security of human beings and creates an atmosphere conducive toprogress and prosperity. Bad governance has the germs of fathering a number of crises. Nostate is free of all crises but it is the quality of governance that ensures its survival through

any crisis. Crises flee at the hands of Good Governance and they are multiplied in abdgovernance. Crisis management requires employment of all available resources, human,physical and technological in the best manner and it is only possible in Good Governance.States having Good Governance are capable of fighting any crisis even with the meagerresources. Four characteristics, namely, fairness or merit, competence, ability and integrity underlineGood Governance. As for fairness, it calls for ensuring equality of opportunity through merit,transparency to meet the end of justice. Competence and ability are inter-related inasmuchas ability is linked to competence of an individual. The recognition of competence throughmerit in employment needs to be accorded the highest priority to lay basis for GoodGovernance. The worth of an individual in functionally specific societies depends upon hiscompetence and ability to do a job efficiently rather than his family connections to secure a

job for which he is not suited. Jobs are offered to individuals on the basis of theircompetence and ability in societies that have Good Governance. In pluralistic societies likePakistan, it is not the suitability of an individual for a particular job but his clannishconnections plus the influence he wields in political hierarchy that could get him a jobthough he may not possess the required qualifications. In such societies merit is discardedto accommodate certain favourites and jobs particularly in public sector go to those who donot possess competence to man them. Handling of jobs by incompetent personnel gives aset back to Good Governance for achieving efficient-oriented results. Good Governance stands for the strength of various types of institutions, political, economicand legal. Institutions need to be built and sustained, which could guarantee the survival of


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the nation in times of catastrophes or perils. Institutions need to be stronger thanindividuals. Unfortunately, a little effort has been made to build institutions on a stablefooting in Pakistan as individual shave taken a precedence over institutions. The trend is tobe reversed for achieving real stability. The latter comes not through individuals but throughinstitutions. We must not allow the erosion of institutions through the idiosyncraticbehaviour of rulers and this would necessitate more doses of democracy. Good Governance

is linked to the development of institutions, and through these Pakistan can hope to meetthe varied challenges of the 21st century. 2. THE CRISIS OF GOOD GOVERNANCE IN PAKISTAN: Pakistan suffers from a number of crises. Every crisis has negative effect on its polity andsociety. But the foremost crisis that Pakistan is facing is that of Good Governance. It is thecore of all other problems. Pakistan unfortunately plunged into the curse of bad governance in the early years of itslife. The blame is often laid at the door of imperial legacy we inherited from the colonialrulers. But it is the fact that the system of governance that Pakistan inherited at the time ofits birth had proved its worth for over 100 years. Under the same system people had trustand confidence in the government. Life and property of citizens were secured throughimplementation of law. After the partition, the founding fathers of Pakistan gave best resultswith the same wherewithal despite having meager resources. But as the state grew olderand resources became available the quality of governance started to decline and currently itis at the nadir. After 58 years, the dream of the father of the nation still remains unfulfilled. Every time a new government comes it declare the old systems an anathema, throws itaway and establishes a new one. After so many experiments with the constitution still wehave not been able to achieve the desired results, thanks to poor governance. Change inconstitution and law makes little difference if these laws are not implemented in their truespirit. The real problem is at the implementation level. When vested interests andincompetent officials allow subversion to the established law, even the best law cannot be ofany use. Due to the bad governance education, health, civic services, agricultural infrastructure isin the state of paralysis. Even the most basic social needs of citizens are not fulfilled. Lawand order, a fundamental duty of state has suffered a great setback. People do not feel safe

and secure. Places of worship have to be guarded for the fear of terrorism. This sorry stateof law and order scared the investors away from the country thereby severely harming theeconomy.The curse of bad governance has also enveloped the judiciary. In contemporary times thereis a great emphasis on good governance. One of the pillars of good governance is theexistence of independent, impartial and honest judiciary. Further, true democracy is thehallmark of good governance. Therefore, until and unless a foundation for true democracyand independent, impartial and honest judiciary is laid in this country, the prospects ofelimination of the elements of bad governance will be a tall order. In the context of Pakistan people are increasingly losing confidence in this institution. Itsworking has been severely harmed by the incompetency and insufficiency of the personnel.In some cases, political interference in the work of judiciary also affects badly the quality of

judgment. Delaying tactics have resulted into huge backlog of cases. It consequently delaysthe delivery. Courts are meant to be the watchdog in a civil society to keep effective checkon all other institutions of the state. This lofty job demands efficiency and honesty on thepart of judiciary. Bad reputation of courts as in the case of Pakistan encourages corruptelement to violate the laws. One of the most damaging effects of bad governance is the prevalence of corruption thatultimately results in lawlessness. The absence of impartial and independent accountabilityhas resulted in the growth of this monster. Corruption has become a norm in our societyrather than the exception.


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Another worst effect of bad governance is that it kills merit. Merit or fairness is essential forgood governance. Merit and good governance support each other. Bad governance givesbirth to nepotism and favouritism, which is anti-thesis of fairness. In a society based onmerit, it is the competence and ability of a person that is the criteria for the employment orcontinuity of job. 3. PRESENT SCENARIO IN PAKISTAN:

The administrative structure that was left behind by the British has been labelled adnauseam as the legacy of the colonial rule, put in place to safeguard the interests of theRaj. To an extent no one can deny this. But no one can also deny the fact that this systemwas well geared to ensure justice and the maintenance of law and order. The state of governance is the single most important factor that determines the quality ofpublic services provided to the citizens of a country. Many independent bodies and aidagencies that have looked into Pakistans development problems have attributed themalaise in public services be they education, health, housing, water supply, transport, orsanitation to poor administration. 1) Poverty: Good Governance stands for poverty alleviation through long term Social Action Programme(SAP). In Pakistan, Poverty Reduction Strategy was launched by the government in 2001 inresponse to the rising trend in poverty during 1990s. It consisted of the following fiveelements: (a) accelerating economic growth and maintaining macroeconomic stability, (b)investing in human capital, (c) augmenting targeted interventions; (d) expanding socialsafety nets and (e) improving governance. The net outcome of interactions among thesefive elements would be the expected reduction in transitory and chronic poverty on asustained basis. The reduction in poverty and improvement in social indicators and livingconditions of the society are being monitored frequently through large- scale householdsurveys in order to gauge their progress in meeting the targets set by Pakistan for achievingthe seven UN Millennium Development Goals by 2015.Not surprisingly, the figures cited by the government for people living below the poverty linehave come to be widely questioned. With poverty alleviation being the buzzword these daysin our economic and social development and a key criterion for aid givers, it isunderstandable that the policymakers are desperately trying to prove the success of their

strategy in terms of falling poverty levels. But unfortunately wishes are not horses and thegovernment will have to do better to achieve its goals. It now appears that thegovernments claim of poverty being 23.9 per cent is being challenged not just byeconomists in the country but also the World Bank and the UNDP. Both these agencies havecome up with different figures 25.7 per cent by the UNDP and 28.3 per cent by the WorldBank. This is no doubt embarrassing for the government, which has repeatedly claimed thatits estimates have been endorsed by the donor agencies. But it is still not too late to rectifythe error so that our economic planning is not based on illusionary statistics. 2) Inflation: Inflation seemed to be a chronic problem in many parts of the world. There is a wide spreadrecognition that inflation results in inefficient resource allocation and hence reducespotential economic growth. Inflation imposes high cost on economies and societies;disproportionately hurts the poor and fixed income groups and creates uncertaintythroughout the economy and undermines macro economic stability. High inflation hasalways penalized the poor more than the rich because the poor are less able to protectthemselves against the consequences, and less able to hedge against the risks that highinflation poses. Lowering inflation therefore, directly benefits the low and fixed incomegroups. Pakistan has witnessed a low inflation environment for the last several years butexperienced a sharp picked up last year at 9.3 percent. 3) Economic Growth: Economic growth is the engine of employment generation and poverty alleviation. In orderto sustain this strong pace of growth and maintain healthy and vigorous macroeconomic


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indicators would require a prolonged period of macroeconomic stability, financial discipline,and consistent and transparent policies. These, along with improved governance and betterquality infrastructure would encourage private sector to play a leading role in promotinginvestment and growth. The government on its part must identify and promote sectors,which are considered not only to be the major drivers of growth but also have the greatestpotential of creating more employment opportunities.

4) Provincial Rivalry: The disparity in the size and resources of the provinces has created the feeling in thesmaller units that they are being dominated and even exploited by the larger province. Away out of this throbbing point is to allow all the provinces sufficient autonomy so that theycan frame their own policies and run their own affairs as they think fit within the broadframework of the federation. The 1973 Constitution, which was approved by a consensus,provides a small measure of autonomy for the provinces. Even much of this has beensiphoned away by the amendments and distortions that have changed the Basic Law beyondrecognition. For instance, the changes brought about in the structure of the localgovernment by the military- led government have enhanced the centres hold on theadministration at the grassroots level. The provinces have been unable to assert theirauthority and will in many such matters because of their dependence on Islamabad for theirfinancial resources. Their taxation powers are limited and, according to one estimate, theycannot generate more than 10 per cent of their revenue needs. To meet the shortfall, theprovinces rely on the federal divisible pool, subventions and grants from the centre. There isalso the interference which comes from Islamabad in the shape of appointments of seniorofficers in the provincial administrations. 5) Unemployment:6) Illiteracy:7) Law & Order:8) Sectarian Violence:9) Corruption:10) Population scenario:11) Privatisation:12) Political instability:

13)4. NATIONAL COMMISSION FOR GOVERNMENT REFORM: The government has recently established still another agency whose mission appears to besimilar to that of the NRB. Called the National Commission for Government Reform (NCGR),it is to consist of 11 members five of whom will be serving or retired civil servants, threefederal or provincial ministers, and two drawn from the corporate sector. Ishrat Husain,former governor of the State Bank of Pakistan, will be its head. Writing in this newspaper (July 9, 2006), Mr Husain tells us that the commission will reportonce every three months to a steering committee, co -chaired by the president and theprime minister and including the four provincial chief ministers. This committee will consultthe central and provincial cabinets, higher civil servants, politicia ns, and nazims regardingthe commissions recommendations. Once it has approved them, they will be deemed tohave been approved by governments at all levels.

He also says that his commission will watch the filtering down to the masses of theprosperity to be generated by economic growth and, in the same connection, it will want tomake public officials responsive to the common mans needs. But apparently, it will not beconcerned with the political dimension of governance. This omission may render itsenterprise barren, for politics and administration are inextricably linked. The commissionwants to make the bureaucracy both efficient and responsive. The quest for efficiency mayrequire modernisation of equipment, change in methods and procedures, simplification ofwork flow (skipping unnecessary stops on the way up or down), delegation of authority andresponsibility, and mitigation, if not elimination, of corruption. Installation of newer


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equipment, methods, and procedure does not require a lot more than a modest amount oftraining. Delegation of authority and eradication of corruption are the more intractableproblems.

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Essay on Good Governance