ISLAMABAD, Feb 10: The National Commission for Government Reforms (NCGR) has proposed performance-based promotion and remunerations for federal and provincial government employees for ensuring good governance.

"We have recommended to the government to offer its civil and other employees an improved salary structure, based on performance, so that they deliver honest services. This is how we can ensure good governance and transparency," NCGR chairman Dr Ishrat Hussain told Dawn.

Dr Hussain, a former governor of State Bank of Pakistan, said the government should ensure open, transparent merit-based recruitment at all levels of public services with proper regional representation.

One of the important issues, he said, was implementation, adding that once it was ensured, people “can hope to see change” in the public services sector.

Dr Hussain denied that the civil service reforms were being undertaken on the advice of the World Bank. "We do not take any advise from donors," he said, adding that it was government’s own decision to ensure improved performance of the federal, provincial and local government institutions.

He said $350 million Access to Justice programme was supported by the Asian Development Bank (ADB) but it was the government’s decision to improve the judiciary’s performance to provide quick and inexpensive justice to people.

He said the reforms process in institutions, including the State Bank and the Central Board of Revenue (CBR), had been initiated and the government had already implemented various recommendations. The reform process in the CBR, he said, would be completed by 2009.The NCGR chairman said that his focus was on education and civil service reforms.

He also said that rules of business at the federal, provincial and district government levels needed to be simplified, empowering the secretaries and heads of departments and district coordination officers (DCOs) to take decisions without multiple references and clearances. Post-audit of decisions should be used to ensure accountability rather than prior clearances.