UNTIL some years ago, one reason for joining government service rather than the more paying private sector was that young men wanted the self-respect and security that a government job gave them, rather than being under a seth in the private sector.

But now a government job has come to resemble one under a seth. A reminder of this are headlines that read: ‘Bureaucrats lobby Sharifs for plum jobs: reception tent at Raiwind packed with supplicants’.

From the days of ‘brown sahibs’ we have come full circle to the era of darbaris (courtiers). A certain number of darbari civil servants always existed, but now such conditions have been created that the number has swollen to a level where you need a tent to accommodate them.

The secretary/inspector general of police was the bastion of power and that is where the buck stopped for the provincial bureaucracy, the establishment secretary and secretary of the ministry for the federal bureaucracy.

The chief secretary was supposed to interact with the chief minister and the establishment secretary with the prime minister; they were to ensure not only that the best men were posted to the right jobs but that an officer’s honour and reputation was protected when he took decisions on merit and in good faith.

This gave the bureaucracy confidence and respect due to which the public accepted their authority. This is what is needed now.

In fact, the government’s writ was on account of the respect and awe that the bureaucracy inspired. When that writ was challenged, it was firmly dealt with, without fear. Decisions taken by the officers were normally not reversed and the officer was confident that his boss would stand by him. In case the officer needed to be rebuked or disciplined, this was done privately so as not to lower his image in the eyes of the public.

I remember that as commissioner in Faisalabad division, in one of many anti-encroachment operations we had demolished 103 car showrooms, three-storey high, in Faisalabad city. These had been built illegally and had remained on government land since the last 40 years. It was a dawn-to-dusk operation, using bulldozers and cranes.

In another operation, 600 or so shops were demolished on Jhang road, actions which opened the city’s clogged arteries. I informed the chief secretary a night before the operation. There was no fear of the 103 well-connected, rich owners of those car showrooms or the 600 shopkeepers, or the courts; what was being done was in the public interest. I came to no harm.

Unfortunately, that kind of confidence is not available to officers currently — for no fault of theirs. They have not been provided the environment, from the very start of their careers, to develop along the right lines.

On leaving their training institution, the young, bright, idealistic young men and women are thrown to the elected representatives to find their patrons and godfathers.

The senior officers, rather than taking them under their wing and guiding and protecting them, are unfortunately looking for their own patrons and godfathers. So officers at all levels head towards the ‘tents’ of the ministers, chief ministers and the prime minister rather than the waiting room of the chief secretary or their bosses. And you cannot blame them.

A silver lining to this dismal and deteriorating state of affairs has been the recent order of the Supreme Court in the Anita Turab case that justiciable reasons will have to be recorded by the government before transferring any officer prematurely.

While a brave officer put her career on the block by going to court against the government, one hopes the courts will have their ruling implemented without fear or favour.

This matter of prime ministers and chief ministers surrounding themselves with the best and most loyal officers, and leaving the rest of the bureaucracy in the lurch is neither good for bureaucracy nor for the rulers. The latter can only deliver if the bureaucracy delivers and establishes the writ of the state in all sectors.

The office of the establishment secretary and the chief secretary should be restored to its old powers, and we should strive to have bureaucrats as servants of the state and not the servants of political parties.

The maturity being shown in politics, in recognising each other’s mandate, should also trickle down to the bureaucracy. All officers who held decent posts under previous governments need not be placed on the list of suspects by the new government, unless they are known to flaunt their loyalties.

There is also another counterproductive management style that has developed; this is governance that stems solely from the ruler’s priorities. This results in the officers attending only to the numerous, unending priorities of the ruler, leaving them with no time to attend to the public’s routine problems.

Because the official is under constant pressure exerted by the ruler to meet deadlines, he has no time for the ordinary public. This causes misery to the public. Everyday affairs that do not fit in with ‘breaking-news’ type of issues comprise 90pc of governance issues in a well-functioning government. Just being available to the public itself is a relief as against being always at the beck and call of the ruler’s office.

As we celebrate the continuity of the democratic process, let us also be conscious that there is a need to wind up the tents full of supplicating government servants and restore their honour and self-respect in the interest of the elusive dream of good governance.

The writer is former secretary commerce.