October 16, 2006	Monday	Ramazan 22, 1427

END-September power blackout in the country as WAPDA’s system tripped, continued inability of KESC to provide satisfactory service, the inability of the textile industry to make a strategic response to the new liberalised international trade environment, the resurgence of diseases such as TB and malaria, the spread of deadly virus diseases such as Dengue’s, the collapse of road networks after a rain shower or two, and the inability to rehabilitate over 80 per cent of the last year’s earthquake victims are but a few examples of institutional failure in Pakistan.

Institutions are hard to build in a society where the tendency is to build self even if it is at the expense of institutional capability. This tendency flows top-down and bottom-up and is writ large.

If an institution is critiqued, we will find individuals defending their own personal positions instead of the institutions as a whole. The upshot in many cases is that personalities at the helm grow bigger than the institution they head. The institutions then come to be identified by personalities when people should be identified by institutions.

In some cases, institutions fail to gain or lose response capability as bloated personalities become the single-most important barrier to change for the better. Pakistan, therefore, has many leading names but few institutions to boast of.

So, praise is usually sung of a whole lot of individual names who may have jumped many ships to grow bigger in individual capacities. Are there, however, many institutions that can be called praiseworthy and institutions worth the name in private and public sectors alike?

The Arab Human Development Report (HDR) 2002 shows that medium- and low-HDI Arab countries on an average score low on all indicators of quality of institutions including voice and accountability, political instability, government ineffectiveness, regulatory burden, rule of law, and graft.

Using these same criteria, we will find that voice of people is not heard at all in as far as the above issues of electricity supply, disease control, provision of roads, and earthquake victims’ rehabilitation is concerned. When these issues are raised, supposedly responsible individuals tend to immediately go on the defensive with a parallel attempt to sweep the issues under the rug as though the issues do not exist and people are only hallucinating.

Oxfam does not know its job and does not know what it is saying ala our top functionaries when the world and local media are clamouring to somehow save the 1.8 million earthquake survivors from another harsh winter. To say that Oxfam is wrong not only reflects adversely on the government impairing its credibility, it also betrays not just government ineffectiveness but also government apathy ———signs of poor institutions as per the Arab HDR 2002.

Every time an institution is held accountable, our leading personalities go on the defensive as though they are the whole institution.

In stark contrast was the case of Katrina disaster last year in the US. People criticised the governments at all levels. No member of the government said that everything was hunky-dory as is the tendency in our part of the world. Governments not only explained their position before the people but allowed an investigation. Responsibility was duly accepted.

Faults in the system had to be known to avoid such failures in the future. Progressive nations learn from their own mistakes and try to strengthen their institutional framework instead of asserting that since everything was fine, no further improvement is required.

Our institutions, therefore, remain weak and personalities keep going strong. The stronger the personalities become, the bigger the resistance to change for the better. For, public officers seek to enlarge empires and want no change that would harm their continuation prospects which would be harmed if institutions were to stand on own strength thus making the so-called “leading” personalities dispensable. It is own indispensability through personal strength that is more important than the strength of the institution. Institutions remain weak.

The mismanagement and maladministration in power utilities is well known. No attempt is ever made to redress the situation through institution building. Rather, either only the heads are changed to show that some action is being taken or ownership is transferred as in the case of KESC. Change of guard is of no practical utility unless the new guard has the style and skills to throws up fool proof systems, competent and honest staff, an efficient structure to operate a winning strategy around values shared throughout the organisation to give customer service and utility.

Unless the new guard can deliver through the above, change at the top is meaningless as have been the top-level changes in Wapda and KESC. When these changes fail to show desired results, government ends up defending the change instead of compelling the new guard to deliver. This reinforces the tendency of supporting people at the expense of institution-building.

It not only betrays government ineffectiveness—-a hallmark of weak institutions and weak governance ala the Arab HDR 2002——-it further leads only towards a few more bloated CVs that will show their high positions with the utilities to impress all and sundry regardless of the use made of the position in giving public service.

Importance of public service is, therefore, replaced with the importance of the people who have been propped up to take charge of utilities without actually being in effective enough charge of the utility.

The situation has gone from bad to worse in the city to the extent that one cannot help missing the old KMC that at least carried out aerial sprays and killed stray dogs even though it was viewed as a hapless inefficient organisation.

Now, we only see promises of sprays and fumigation that never ever happen in the middle and low income localities. Dengue virus indicates absence of a local government that should be. The required institution here is not even on the cards.

The elected local representatives should not be expected to run the local governments. Local governments should be headed by Masters in Public Administration (MPA) who should be appointed and not elected.

An MPA should not only be a city manager but MPAs should be heading city government departments responsible for water, sewage, roads, health and hygiene to name a few. The elected local representatives not trained to run local governments are required to do so.

And, MPAs trained to run city governments seek jobs with brokerage houses and banks. Why? Because all degree holders must make a fast buck as per the norms prevailing in the society. MPAs with city governments should also be decently remunerated provided an institution exists that generates revenues by instilling confidence in the people who receive good public service from the city government.

Inability to generate such virtuous circles is another manifestation of ineffective institutions.

With the public service environment as bleak as above, a crucial enabling environmental factor for business and industry remains weak. However, the private industrial sector such as textiles also remains weak institutionally as this too is closely held by family owners who must let go if they have to develop an industry that is strategically driven and thereby responsive to the needs of international environment that is now more open and that seeks quality, low price, and quick response.

Whether it is the public sector or the private, unless the race ends for only own self and begins for collective gain, institutions will not be developed. It needs to be realised that it is in collective benefit that long-term sustainable individual gain also lies.

This realisation, however, requires a definite break away from sights set low for short-term political and/or financial gain maximisation. An ability to see into the distance is what is needed for institution building that our current “leading” personalities at various levels must develop before the crucial services sink into complete chaos.