March Towards Good Governance

The concept of good governance centers on the responsibility of governments and governing bodies to meet the needs of the masses as opposed to select groups in the society. It involves a process of decision making and the implementation of those decisions through the state institutions created for the purpose. The major attributes and characteristics of good governance universally acknowledged and advocated are responsiveness of the system of governance to the public needs and sensitivities, participation of masses in the efforts of the government or the governing bodies, transparency in carrying out their functions by the public institutions, equitable accountability, efficiency, consensus of the society on what is in the best interest of the whole community and how this can be achieved, equity and inclusiveness and rule of law.

Bad governance is which lacks the foregoing characteristic and is corruption-ridden.Corruption is generally defined as misuse of entrusted power or authority by the elected politicians or appointed civil servants for private gains. It usually entails embezzlement of funds, nepotism, kickbacks, bribery as well as deliberate attempts to perpetuate a system with inbuilt avenues of corruption, graft and entitlement. Corruption has many forms and the major ones are political corruption and systemic corruption which germinate other forms of corruption like in the public delivery departments of the government that eat into the social and economic fiber of a country besides generating social tensions and hampering its socio-economic progress.

Political corruption occurs at the highest level of the political system usually at the policy formulation level when politicians and state agents entitled to make and enforce laws in the name of the people, use their position to sustain their power, status and wealth leading to misallocation of resources and perversion of the process of decision making. Systemic or endemic corruption is an integrated and essential aspect of the economic, social and political system prevalent in a country, embedded in a wider situation that helps to sustain it.

If we apply the foregoing touchstone for judging the quality of governance and review the permeating situation, we can safely infer that over the last seventy years the people have endured bad governance. While it is imperative to eliminate avenues of political and systemic corruption what matters the most is the eradication of corruption among the public delivery departments which are supposed to promote well-being of the people and addressing their complaints and grievances on expeditious basis. The situation in our country has been just the opposite and people are sick and tired of the corruption that permeates in these departments due to lack of transparency and accountability.

It is however encouraging to note that the PTI government which sought the mandate of the people on the basis of its narrative to curb corruption and give the country good governance, sticking to its pledge with the people is feverishly engaged in not only bringing reforms to plug the avenues of political and systemic corruption but is also working with unruffled commitment to make the lives of the people comfortable by ensuring that their complaints and grievances against the government departments are attended and taken care of without any loss of time.

In this regard Pakistan Citizens Portal launched by the prime minister on Sunday is the first positive move that marks country’s march towards good governance. This arrangement for on line registration of complaints by Pakistanis whether living in Pakistan or abroad is the first of its kind in Pakistan. The citizens will be able to register their complaints through an APP which would be run through Beta Android version. The government also envisages inclusion of IOS version so that the citizens who are using iPhones can also register their complaints through the device that they are using. About 3,760 federal and provincial departments will be linked with the portal and the complaints lodged by the citizens would automatically reach the heads of the concerned departments. The citizens would also be able to uload videos, audios and picture files in support of the complaints. The heads of the departments will be under obligation to settle the complaints within ten days of their receipt. A complaint registered by a citizen will become immediately available at the dashbords of the ministries and departments. The citizens will also be able to provide feedback to the government and rate their complaint resolution. The prime minister will be persoally monitoring the whole exercise as all the departments and ministries will be sending regular reports to him to keep him abreast about the working of the system.

Prime Minister Imran Khan elaborating on the system on the eve of its inauguration said that the system would make the bureaucrats, ministries, government employees and MPs accountable besides addressing concerns of the investors. He said that the citizens would also be able to lodge complaints about private institutions. An incisive look into the structure raised for handling the on line complaints and its envisaged objectives it can be saely inferred that it has inbuilt ingredients of good governance. The time constraint on handling the complaint will ensure prompt response from the concerned departments and in a way will also lead to the development of a culture of accountability and transparency in addition to discouraging corrupt practices. All the tiers of the government departments handling public complaints will be on their toes to discharge their duties in accordance with law and rules and regulations concerning carrying out their designated duties. The fact that it would not be left to the bureaucracy only to ensure efficient functioning of the new measure but the prime minister will himself be monitoring the undertaking, it will guarantee the success of the system. The optimism generated by the introduction of Pakistan Citizens Portal surely is not misplaced.

(Published in Monthly Tribute International on 01-11-2018)