Over the years, bureaucracy in Pakistan has been marred with nepotism, favouritism, incompetence and corruption. The babus that sit in public offices are known for their poor decision-making skills, while political parties continue to use them for their own gains. Promotions and transfers are then frequent depending on who is in power and who the civil servants are supporting. In such another possible example of using promotions as a tool to influence decisions, the Senate Standing Committee on Cabinet Secretariat was informed that 200 promotions were made recently, even of officials involved in corruption cases.
The Central Selection Board (CSB) promoted two officers, who are involved in the case against Supreme Court judge Justice Qazi Faez Isa’s wife. It is pertinent to note that the court had ordered action against them. Moreover, the chief of the Federal Board of Revenue (FBR) was appointed as the chairman of the body despite court’s order on action against him as well. It is ironic that officials involved in anti-graft cases were promoted during the ruling PTI’s tenure, who have been running a self-proclaimed anti-corruption drive to bring back the country’s looted money. The premier has gone as far as refusing to shake hands with PML-N President and Opposition Leader in the National Assembly Shehbaz Sharif, claiming such a gesture would seem as a lack of acknowledgment of corruption cases against him.
What is worse is that the Senate panel was also informed that these promotions had once again superseded 150. Senator Zarqa Taimur present at the meeting stated that “we are not provided Promotion Score Cards and rules of procedure of the Central Selection Board. We want transparency in the procedure for promotion of officers for good governance”. It is confusing that despite the mechanism of transparency available with the CSB, it has been completely ignored.
The civil servant reforms spearheaded by Advisor to Prime Minister on Institutional Reforms Dr. Ishrat Hussain call for linking promotions to key performance indicators (KPIs) on actual performance. The reforms were aimed at fixing the organizational structure of the bureaucracy through merit and training. However, little efforts have been made in this regard so far as our civil services continue to become weaker with each passing year. There is no denying the fact that fixing it is a herculean task but it should be the government’s priority. It is after all the bureaucracy that helps strengthen a democracy.
