Governance 101: Deliver what you promise

We can’t peep into Sind Chief Minister’s heart but suspect his ‘dili murad’ is to give Sindh good governance, something that the people of Sindh have all but given up on, convinced it is not in the DNA of their rulers to rule wisely or justly. Pakistan People’s Party, that owes its all to its founder, has kept the name but lost the vision. It continues to cash in on the legacy of the founder but doesn’t wish to live by it. Its leaders have worked hard, not without success, to break the spell cast by of the founder on the jiyalas. The Party rules in the name of the people but hardly people-centric; it proclaims ‘Pakistan khapay’ but has effectively retreated to this side of the Indus. Can the court jester be accused of undue licence for suggesting that PPP is neither of Pakistan nor by the people but for the elite of Sindh?

In certain ways political parties behave like markets. Their fortunes, too, are cyclical in nature. Failure provides for correction; flattened fortunes create space to re-imagine and reinvent. Years of poor governance give Murad this opportunity, the opportunity to buck the ‘do-nothing’ tradition of his predecessors, who were often another piece of furniture in the CM House.

Murad started with a flourish, touching the right buttons, but like men in a hurry he erred in setting delivery deadlines without first overhauling the delivery systems. It is easy to order ‘cleanliness within ten days’, and it can even happen if the lumbering government machinery gets into gear. But it won’t be durable. Efficient waste management – the entire chain from collection to transfer stations to recovery facilities to landfill-will happen only when you reform the system. Without reforming the system the Chief Ministerial magic wand will achieve just that: cleanliness within ten days with relapse written all over; like wall chalking that reappears every time it is effaced.

Getting shops to open at 9 am and close by 7 pm makes sense. It will certainly improve family lives, especially for those who are asleep when children leave for school and find the children asleep when they return from work. It could also save some electricity, and who knows it might even help crime prevention. But will it happen? Was the necessary homework done, was there a diagnostic study to understand why shops don’t open before eleven, was there sufficient interaction with interest groups, was it ensured that there was an effective law to regulate shop timings?

At the heart of governance is the rule of law, and if there is a regulatory framework in place shouldn’t the announcement come from the office that the law gives authority to, rather than Chief Ministerial lips?

Smoking in public places, substance abuse (gutka and the like)? Surely, there are laws governing such deviations. Why were Chief Minister’s orders needed? It reminds one of the Sindh Police warnings ‘henceforth you can’t drive without a driving licence’!

It is alright to have a renewal of resolve, but then your efforts need to be directed at ensuring better compliance. We are waiting to hear from the relevant authorities the specific measures taken in pursuance of the CM’s directive – and it has to be more than ‘no smoking’ signs, lest it should become another farce like stopping at red (traffic) lights that a growing number of motorists thinks is optional.

To fix overcrowding, the CM ‘ordered’ immediate completion of the under construction jails. We assume simultaneous measures are being taken to recruit and train the staff that would be required for these additional incarceration centres, along with the wherewithal for timely and safe production of under-trials before the courts. But is space insufficiency the real issue or the staggering number of under trial prisoners (UTPs) that constitutes more than 90% of the jail population? There is something alarmingly wrong if jails are full of UTPs.

The CM also wants to convert jails into ‘correction centres’. With respect, Sir, there is a difference between prayer and policy. The first policy measure has to be to reduce the number of UTPs. Second, separate them from the convicted ones. If the ‘presumed innocent’ are made to share lodgings with the ‘proven guilty’ the idea of correction centres will remain a prayer.

The ads announcing the CM’s orders to arrest those displaying weapons were greeted with relief by the scared citizens who don’t, or don’t want to, have a gun. When they are overtaken by a double cabin carrying the gun-pointing-finger-on-trigger guards of a VIP, or some VIP wannabe, they pray there is no bump on the road to make the guns go off. The gullible ones took the trouble to ring up 15, as the ads advised, to report flagrant display, only to be told ‘oh no, they are security guards who are exempt’. Quite cute: the principal culprits – the elite and their minions -are beyond the pale of law! Pragmatic actually: a police that can’t enforce traffic rules shouldn’t chase people who are heavily armed and have friends in high places! We still see weapons galore. Will the Home Department care to share the stats with us – arrests made and exemptions withdrawn?

We do not wish to denigrate Murad’s laudable initiatives. His commitment to the cause is unassailable. We merely wish to caution. We employ these snippets to demonstrate how good intentions can degenerate into disillusionment without adequate preparatory work. If you can’t fix broken windows no one will let you change the edifice! It is not Murad who we seek to indict but the civil servants whose job it is to prepare the roll out plan and to anticipate and mitigate the blowbacks. Raising hopes is politics; managing them public administration.

Murad says he believes in good governance. We believe him. We want him to succeed. A better managed Sindh, with fewer children of the lesser gods, is in our self-interest. But good governance without a good civil service is a mirage. If Murad can’t take the knuckle-duster to bureaucratic culture it is better to let people sleep through the belief that good governance is an alien concept, an aberration of the Raj. Good governance is not bad politics but dashing raised hopes is. Prepare before you promise; then make sure you deliver.