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Non-formulation of NFC award: who to blame? By Intikhab Amir PESHAWAR: Non-formulation of the National Finance Commission award reflects poorly on the country's finance managers. A series of meetings of the NFC held at the federal and provincial capitals to finalize the new award before the announcement of this year's federal budget remained unsuccessful. The people were made to believe that differences among the federating units hampered a new NFC award - which should have taken effect from July 1, 2002 at the expiry of the constitutional term of the country's current fiscal plan given by an interim government in 1997. One argument could well be that the repeated attempts to formulate the NFC award - first under direct military rule and later during the tenure of prime minister Mir Zafarullah Khan Jamali - remained unsuccessful because the centre did not impose its will on the federating units. The last military regime had hand-picked governments in all provinces. Hence, it shouldn't have had too much of a problem in finalizing an award, but it did not. Ironically, violation of Article 160 of the Constitution which says that the NFC award should be implemented afresh after every five years has hardly bothered the government. After failing to finalize the award before the start of the 2004-05 financial year, the government extended the term of the 1997 award by one year. This is for the third consecutive year that the 1997 award has been extended, though there is no provision under the Constitution to do this. Differences among the federating units over monetary issues have been described as the main reason for the delay in the award, perhaps an attempt to shift responsibility elsewhere. If one believes in the argument that differences among provinces hindered the NFC award's formulation, even then it has to be accepted that blame for the failure must lie equally with Islamabad particularly with those who have been controlling the finance division since October 1999. Putting an end to provincial disharmony has often been cited by the Musharraf government as one of its top priorities. However, for all its noble intentions, mistrust between the provinces is as much a problem as it was four year ago. In fact, many acts of this government and of the military one preceding it have directly contributed to this mistrust. Politicians have been frequently criticized and policies seem to show an animosity towards the smaller provinces. A roundtable discussion organized recently in Peshawar reflected this disharmony. The scene of the discussion was such that there seemed to be little else other than anger against the military, judiciary, and a particular province and the bureaucracy. There was no space for those who believe in rational and logical argument. A noted outspoken columnist found it fit to keep quiet and not respond when his frank and fair analysis of the country's political situation received a barrage of criticism from the people present. Nonetheless, every participant at the roundtable discussion, which was actually organized to come up with recommendations for the NFC award, agreed that the Constitution should be held supreme and that it should be implemented not in bits and pieces but in its totality. The NFC award could have been arrived at and implemented had there been some political will on the part of this government. And, had there been a willingness to take measures in accordance with the Constitution and not a tendency to apply it selectively. Please Visit our Sponsor (Ads open in separate window)
