The crisis of governance in Punjab

PTI’s ineptitude blowing up in its face.

Out of the four chief ministers in the country, only Mr Buzdar seems to be facing lack of cooperation from bureaucracy. The PTI leadership maintains that this is because many bureaucrats still remain allied to the PML-N government. The more things are not working in Punjab, the more innovative steps are being taken to get the bureaucracy moving. The treatment meted out to two senior bureaucrats was meant to serve as an example to others. This was followed by transfers of the Chief Secretary and several police IGs. Numerous district officers were shifted on the complaints of the PTI law makers and replaced by those supposed to have a soft corner for the ruling party. Despite the measures, there is still no end to complaints about lack of cooperation by the administrators

The crack of the NAB’s whip along with the PM’s unending threats of sparing none involved in corruption have produced unintended results. A harassed bureaucracy is on a virtual pen down strike. No one is willing to take decisions that could bring them to the attention of the NAB. On Sunday the PTI core committee faulted the bureaucracy for its governance woes. There is again a talk about large scale transfers of government officers.

The federal government cannot exonerate itself of the responsibility for the deterioration of governance in Punjab. One had expected that the PTI would appoint an experienced party leader capable of understanding the complexity of the largest province of the country. It chose for reasons known only to itself a novice who was elected to the provincial assembly for the first time and was supposed to learn to run a province with a population of over 100 million through on job training. Among other things this was sheer injustice to the province and its people.

The PTI leadership is currently running Punjab through multiple centers of power. A week and clueless CM suits them all. This is sheer bad governance. As long as the PTI continues to maintain the persona of self-righteousness, blaming others for its own blunders- the show of no trust in Chief Election Commissioner being the latest example- there will be no end to the country’s problems and the miseries of its people.

https://www.pakistantoday.com.pk/2019/11/25/the-crisis-of-governance-in-punjab/