Outline
Introduction
The imposing tower of miseries resting on Pakistan’s heart has its soul foundation in the presence of
a crisis of good governance. It has started robbing the national notion of socio-economic stability in
the country. However, pragmatic steps, such as reforming institutional efficiency, upholding
accountability and ensuring transparency, can curb the menace of bad governance in Pakistan.
What is a governance crisis in its real sense?
A glimpse of the Governance Crisis in Pakistan
How has Pakistan been affected because of bad governance nowadays?
Why does Pakistan face the Crisis of Good Governance?
Non-participation of citizens
The Weak rule of law
Absence of a transparent system
Retarded responsiveness of institutions
Lack of equity and non-inclusive decision-making
Poor institutional efficacy and inefficiency
Lack of accountability
Lack of consensus among institutions
In what obstacles Pakistan has stuck itself?
Political impacts
Political instability
Political polarization
Economic Impacts
Economic declivity
Unemployment and poverty
Social Impacts
Societal degradation
National disintegration
Psychological Impacts
Promotion of anti-state elements
Tarnished image of the country
What available tools are there for Pakistan to religiously fix the crisis of good governance?
To promote public-private partnership for effective administration
To hold the culprits accountable by strengthening the transparency mechanism
To equip the youth with equitable opportunities
To uphold meritocracy in the recruitment process
To reform bureaucracy for a better functioning
To bring consensus among the political leadership at provincial and federal levels
To revamp the criminal justice system
To transform societal attitudes by effective use of media and technology
To ensure access of the public to information
Critical Analysis
Conclusion
Introduction
The imposing tower of miseries resting on Pakistan’s heart has its soul foundation in the presence of
a crisis of good governance. It has started robbing the national notion of socio-economic stability in
the country. There is no doubt that good governance is the only tool through which Pakistan can
settle all its monumental problems. However, the country has remained unable to sustain its political
maturity and socio-economic development due to the prevailing crisis of good governance. Since
independence, governance issues have been a part of the debate in Pakistan. The inefficient political
leaders, multiple military interventions and delay in constitution-making have manifested poor
governance in the country. The plight of governance in Pakistan is due to the non-participation of
citizens, the weak rule of law, and the absence of a transparent system. In addition to them, retarded
responsiveness of institutions, non-inclusive decision making and poor efficiency of institutions
increase the woes of a governance crisis. It is certain that in the absence of good governance, the
country cannot integrate into the international economy, and these conditions will lead it toward chaos
and instability. Moreover, it cannot drive its people out of poverty; thus, social degradation and the
promotion of anti-state elements is inevitable. Now, Pakistan is at a crossroads. It needs to reform its
institutional structures by promoting public-private partnerships for effective administration.
Furthermore, reforming bureaucracy for better functioning, ensuring accountability and revamping the
criminal justice system would enable Pakistan to get its desired position among nations. The need for
governance has been rightly remarked by Benigno Aquino, “With proper governance, life will
improve for all”. This essay throws light on the crisis of good governance, its socio-economic and
political impacts, and the available tools to fix this crisis.
Governance simply implies the manner and actions governing an organization or a state. It finds its
deep roots in the country’s administration, and so is the case in Pakistan. For the first time, the
concept of governance was introduced in the late 1980s by United Nations to elaborate on the acute
social problems in sub-Saharan Africa. For decades, governance issues have been a part of the
debate in Pakistan, stressing their impact on the daily lives of the masses. Unfortunately, Pakistan
has been unable to take practicable steps to solve its governance crisis; thus, weakening the socio-
economic fabric and political institutions and destroying the precious future of its generations. In order
to be seen through the prism of modern economies, Pakistan must ensure exemplary governance, as
it is the key to stability and prosperity. Etounge Manguella remarked, “Good governance implies
the presence of the rule of law, safeguard of human rights, the existence of honest
government, accountability, transparency, predictability and openness.”
Good governance has always been an important issue since the inception of Pakistan. It is evident
that the country has always been affected by instability in the political system, both by the civilians
and military regimes. Moreover, the delay in constitution-making has also aggravated the country’s
governance system. Although Pakistan is rich in resources, its poor management has wreaked havoc
on the persistent economic crisis. The quantum of good governance relies on the efficient working of
state organs; however, in Pakistan, state institutions face a shortage of accountability, transparency,
meritocracy and the weak rule of law. The country is not a collapsed one, but a governed state,
lacking equity and non-inclusive decision making. Therefore, the crisis has resulted in political
instability, economic declivity and societal degradation. Moreover, the country is dominant in a race of
nukes but crawling on the belly in terms of human development. This has accelerated the poverty and
unemployment rate. It has been seventy-four years since Pakistan came into being, but it cannot
ensure sustainable growth because the Pakistani political leadership has not learned from their
previous mistakes. Furthermore, some power-hunger politicians are trying to topple the elected
government on the pretext of massive rigging in the 2018 Elections. Until this political thinking
prevails, Pakistan cannot materialize its dream of good governance. As Quaid I Azam stated,
“If we want to make this great State of Pakistan happy and prosperous, we should wholly and
solely concentrate on the wellbeing of the people and especially of the masses and the poor.”
Astonishingly, the governance crisis does not revolve around any one factor; it is ingrained in various
structural factors. The policy to keep the majority aloof from administrative matters lies at the heart of
this evil.
Appallingly, it results in a reactive policy instead of a proactive one; the persistent natural gas crisis in
winters every year stands evident to this docile policy. Furthermore, lack of transparency results in
the exploitation of resources, which in turn is aided by the weak accountability system. According to
the latest transparency index report, Pakistan ranks 124 among 180 nations, which means it does not
do enough on the governance parameter. Besides this, the accountability institutions of Pakistan are
unable to perform their duties as credible independent organizations. Dejectedly, they have become a
tool of political victimization in the hands of governments; consequently, the incapacity of the
institutions to enforce across the board accountability is adding fuel to the fire. As a fact, Pakistan has
been entangled between the devil and the deep blue sea, making the country lag behind politically,
socially and economically. Moreover, the gap between the masses and the ruling elite continues to
widen, aggravating the governance crisis further into a trench.
In addition to the unaccountability across the board, the weak rule of law is a significant hurdle that
exacerbates the crisis of good governance in Pakistan. As a result, meritocracy has merely become a
dream, concentrating power only in a few hands. Furthermore, the absence of an uninterrupted local
government system has also played its part in weakening the country’s governance structure.
Similarly, the lack of coordination among institutions is a severe predicament to the prevailing crisis,
as the house divided cannot stay long. Evidently, the meagre political system, uprooted on various
occasions, has also been an obstacle to consensus building. Therefore, a sense of insecurity is
depicted in the Politicians, trying to consolidate power only with their trustworthy people. However,
this non-inclusive decision-making has become a double-edged sword; on the one hand, it makes
ineffective decisions, and on the other, inefficient by adding to the lengthy procedural complications.
Above all, the slow solution of complaints and inability to utilize the resources and opportunities at
best have further aggravated Pakistan’s governance structures. The significance of timely decision
making is correctly described by Piyush Goyal, “The speed of decision making is the essence of
ensuring good governance”. Thus, it is a fact that many factors contributed to making poor
governance a daemon, severely impacting the political, economic and social wellbeing of the
masses.
Like every problem has some impacts, poor governance gives birth to political instability and socio-
economic chaos. Instead of fulfilling its task and duties, the corrupt bureaucracy gets involved in
political engineering and wreaks havoc on the governance system of Pakistan. Besides this, political
polarization, another outcome of bad governance, divides the country into religious, ethnic and
cultural domains. As a result, the sense of unity and feelings of nationalism disintegrates, which fuels
the cultural provincialism in the country. It is evident in Pakistan that the facts and moral truths are
losing weight due to political vote blocs. Furthermore, the opposition leaders leave no stone unturned
to thwart the political policies and projects of the incumbent government; consequently, the leg-pulling
attitude of the opposition cause hindrance and delay in political policy implementation. Thus the
country fails to overcome this crisis and disintegrates due to political polarization. A.P Memon rightly
says it
“The unstable government, inefficient political parties and a weak political culture create a
scenario of poor governance for a politically unstable state”.
Apart from political instability, economic declivity has grabbed its hold in Pakistan. It is a fact that
economic growth is a driving force in reducing poverty. Still, the experience has shown that poor
governance has significantly impaired the country’s economic progress. As a result, unemployment
and poverty rates have increased with time. According to the multidimensional poverty index
(2016), around 39% of the population lives in poverty. Thus, bad governance misallocates the
resources; consequently, this resource inequality allows the elite to subvert the political regulatory
and legal institutions for their gains and oppose institutional reforms against their vested interest.
Therefore, these conditions give birth to inequality, and the state fails to provide employment
opportunities and other basic services to its people. However, the poor governance of Pakistan has
failed to implement economic policies to alleviate poverty. M.H Mushtaq has aptly remarked, “Good
governance drives economic development”.
In addition to Pakistan’s political and economic crisis, the deterioration of the social fabric has led to
moral bankruptcy. Likewise, Pakistan’s society has, obviously, become a victim of moral degradation.
The changing moral fabric and cultural norms of a country induced moral panic, moral transformation
and status anxieties within the public. As a result, people violate laws, traffic rules, and other common
violations that create distress. Moreover, the use of foul language is common among traffic wardens,
health officers and everywhere. Thus the governance system has failed to implement strict
punishments in the different sectors; consequently, social chaos has ridden the societal peace.
Besides this, national integration is strongly dependent on good governance at the national level
where all rights are equally respected without any linguistic, regional or cultural identities. Although
Pakistan is multilingual, multicultural, multiethnic and multi-religious, the crisis of good governance
has exacerbated the issues of national integration.
Last but not least, the poor governance structure in Pakistan has given a constant mental dither to its
masses. As a result, the anti-state elements create a disturbance and spread anarchy. Besides this, a
negative image of Pakistan has been portrayed around the globe; consequently, the worth of the
Green Passport has been lost and Pakistanis are perceived as unethical, unprincipled and corrupt
individuals. Thus Pakistan has given scant attention to providing good governance not only in recent
times but throughout its history.
Ibne Khaldun said, “Throughout history, many nations have suffered a physical defeat, but
that has never marked the end of a Nation. But when a Nation has become the victim of a
psychological defeat, then that marks the end of a Nation”.
As every problem has a solution, there are specific ways to improve the governance structure in
Pakistan. The first and foremost option is to promote Public-Private Partnerships for the effective
administration of public institutions. Unfortunately, the country’s different sectors, such as the
Pakistan steel mill Pakistan International airline, are responsible for aggravating the financial burden
on the country’s economy. According to the Prime Minister, Imran Khan, the Pakistan steel mill is the
largest loss-making unit that costs 17 billion rupees a year. Therefore, Public-Private Partnership is
important to keep losses at a minimum level. Moreover, an unbiased accountability system is an
indispensable tool to strengthen the governance mechanism and curb irregularities in the institutional
processes. Although the National Accountability Bureau holds politicians accountable, it must uphold
unbiased accountability towards all public institutions and their officials. Quaid e Azam said, “With
faith, discipline, and selfless devotion to duty, there is nothing worthwhile that you cannot
achieve.” It is proved from the above saying of Quaid e Azam that a nation can achieve
whatever it wants without involving any corruption.
In addition to accountability, another significant step is to equip the youth with an equitable
opportunity in all sectors and uphold meritocracy in the recruitment process. According to the Trading
Economics Global Macro Model, the unemployment rate in Pakistan would reach 5% by the end of
2021. Therefore, it is the need of the hour to abolish nepotism and uphold merit in the recruitment
process. Moreover, the provision of equal opportunities would provide equal chances to all the
applicants and encourage them to participate positively. Furthermore, the reforms in the bureaucracy
would focus on capacity building and training programs, which will enable the civil servants to
strengthen their capabilities to respond to the humanitarian crisis. Moreover, an inclusive approach of
involving the people and the stakeholders in the decision-making by the field officers of the
administrative services would result in the effective and efficient delivery of services.
Besides bureaucratic reforms, the consensus among the political leadership at provincial and federal
levels and revamping the criminal justice system are essential elements for good governance. The
consensus among politicians on different matters such as E-voting and free and fair elections can
curb the political rigging; the present government’s focus on constitutional developments of provincial
set-ups and the independent functioning of the election commission of Pakistan can improve
governance. Besides political consensus, reconstructing the criminal justice system is the need of the
hour; consequently, it would eradicate criminalization based on sex, gender and equality. The
following quote of Quaid e Azam throws light on the importance of law and order. He stated, “The
first duty of a government is to maintain law and order so that the life, property and religious
beliefs of its subjects are fully protected by the. Last but not least, a change in social attitude
towards politics and free flow of information to the public would create awareness among the masses
and arouse positive feelings towards politicians and administration. As the role of media has impacted
the social, economic, and political aspects of a nation, advanced technology and updated information
and its access to people would reduce the crisis of governance in Pakistan.
Pakistan needs bold steps to be taken to be placed in the list of countries with good governance,
where it may gain respect and honour in the international community. However, since its inception, it
is evident that it has not been on sustainable economic growth, social progress, and cultural
development. The reason is that Pakistani political leadership has not learned from their previous
mistakes. And, when formidable challenges have surrounded the country, some power-hunger
politicians are trying to topple the elected government on the pretext of massive rigging in the 2018
Elections. However, it’s the government, and all the institutions of the state and the masses as well
are responsible for such a deteriorated society of Pakistan. To conclude, governance impacts a
country’s affairs socially, politically and economically.
In a nutshell, good governance in Pakistan would pave the way toward building morale and upright
institutions. Thus, to resolve the governance crisis, there is a need to implement an actual model of
democracy that can actually deliver services to its citizens. Moreover, the country cannot flourish until
it has skilful leadership, strong accountability, the rule of law and meritocracy. However, national
integration and social transformation are essentially needed to root out poor governance. Likewise,
coordination among public and private sectors for the uplift of state institutions; and reforms in
bureaucracy would promote good governance in the country. Unless the governance crises are not
curbed, socio-economic growth and political instability are inevitable. According to Jairam Ramesh,
“There never is a good time for tough decisions. There will always be an election or
something else. You have to pick courage and do it. Governance is about taking tough, even
unpopular decisions”.
