‘Public services do not reach underprivileged’

LAHORE: Getting public services legally is a privilege in Pakistan not available to ordinary citizens as corruption is all-pervading in Pakistan due to political, social, and legal weaknesses. Mending laws and creating hurdles on legitimate rights has now become a norm.

Citizens witness discrimination every day. A request for police certificate to fulfil visa requirements of some country can be entertained in one day if you have influence or courage to offer speed money. Otherwise, the authorities may ask you to fill in the form, stating the places you have lived in Pakistan. If by some chance you have lived in another city during your adult life, you will be told that the certificate will be issued after 10 days, as the police stations of places you used to live have to send their reports as well. If you use some influence, the certificate is issued the next date.

It is because of corruption that revenue collection suffers a minimum Rs500-600 billion. The tax to GDP ratio remains lowest in the region. From the limited revenues available, the government has to make provisions to cover the losses of public sector enterprises worth over Rs500 billion annually. Development suffers too due to pilfering/misuse of 20-30 percent of development expenditure, amounting to over Rs300 billion per year. If these flaws are addressed there will be Rs1,300-1,400 billion available to planners. This will wipe out the entire budget deficit. Pakistan is spending over Rs1,100 billion on development works. The excessive cost of contracts awarded or kickbacks have a built-in cost factor. It impedes the quality of work creating a vicious circle of debt burden and inferior service in the economy.

Transparency is being engineered in such a way that offspring of only the effluent class get lucrative posts on merit.

Private educational institutions operate in other countries too, but the curriculum in all these institutions is the same. The government approves it. However, in Pakistan the private institutions have their own curriculum and teach courses that are taught in developed economies like England, United States or Canada.

Those who study at these private institutes get certificates and degrees from foreign countries. Only the educational institutions in public sector adhere to the outdated government curriculum.

The standard of education in public institutions is mostly pathetic. The standard of teaching in private institutes is very high and as is their monthly fee and other charges.

The youth qualified from these private institutions naturally beats the youth qualified from public institutions on merit.   It has been proved even in Pakistan that fair competition promotes growth and provides relief to the consumers. The competition between mobile companies has brought down the cost of phone call and use of data.

In the same way, fair competition between beverage manufacturers has kept the rates of carbonated water stable (at least in Lahore where a domestic manufacturer is giving a tough time to multinationals).

Unfortunately, barring a few cases, most sectors operate without competition. Cartels identified, prosecuted, and penalised by the Competition Commission of Pakistan are operating without paying penalties, as their appeals in the higher court are lying dormant even after 12 years.

Businesses suffer the most because they find it impossible to enforce contracts. Loan default cases linger on for years.

Ordinary citizens do not feel that they are stakeholders in the growth. The fruits of growth are shared by the elite while the problems created by corruption are faced by the common man.