IT is mindboggling that in a poor country like Pakistan we have a president and four governors which costs the government exchequer billions of rupees annually.

Our treasury is almost empty. When we say that we follow Westminister-styled parliamentary democracy, we should note that the British prime minister lives in a small three to four bedroom house at 10 Downing Street. Many ministers come to parliament on a bike.

Also, in the presidential type of democracy in the US, they have a president and few secretaries like secretary of state, secretary of defence, etc. There is no room for a prime minister.

So why cannot we amend our constitution to control our unnecessary expenditures to run the government smoothly?

Austerity alone can save Pakistan.

Ahmad Siddiqui

Karachi

Published in Dawn, August 15th, 2018