Ministers’ criticism

Published October 9, 2015

THE remarks by two federal ministers at a seminar reveal a flustered state of mind. The minister for water and power lashed out at the Planning Commission and the power sector regulator Nepra.

He described the former as “detrimental to the national interest” and said it “should cease to exist” if problems of the country are to be solved. He then went on to criticise Nepra, saying it was “not a good regulator” because it had failed to ensure that K-Electric met its performance standards.

He also had words for the Nepra chairman, suggesting the government may have made a mistake in appointing him to the key post. The petroleum minister joined in the criticism and even dragged Ogra, the oil and gas regulator, into the whole affair.

There are a number of things we can say about this rather odd attitude. First, the episode reveals that the respective ministers are getting increasingly anxious about the pace of progress in their respective domains, and appear to be externalising their difficulties by diverting blame to other agencies, like the Planning Commission and the regulators.

Such a posture casts their own ministries and performance in a negative light and creates the impression of a government that is increasingly feeling cornered as it struggles to build a track record by which to be remembered.

The government is now past the midpoint mark of its term, and if key ministers of the cabinet are venting their frustration on other government departments, it only underlines the paucity of progress they have to show for their own time in power.

Second, and perhaps more importantly, the quality of the ideas presented by both the ministers leaves much to be desired.

The Planning Commission lost its position as a central pillar in the economic management of the country in the 1970s, and the finance ministry emerged as the focal point of economic decision-making in the 1980s, under the leadership of Ghulam Ishaq Khan.

One consequence of this shift in power from the Planning Commission to the finance ministry has been the loss of a long- or medium-term horizon for decision-making, with economic policy now largely focused on firefighting to meet annual targets.

Another consequence has been the entry of politics into economic management, something that this government and its predecessor have both acknowledged to be a serious problem.

And if K-Electric has failed to reach performance standards, one obvious question arises for the ministry of water and power that has two seats on the board of the company to which it has appointed mid-level officers with a poor track record of attendance at board meetings.

How well has the ministry itself exercised the powers it has to steer K-Electric towards improving its performance? Both ministers, it seems, could benefit from some serious introspection.

Published in Dawn, October 9th, 2015

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