Jang Economic Session: Good governance linked to effective accountability, political stability

LAHORE: Good governance and improvement in other sectors could not be achieved without effective coordination between the institutions and people. Revolution is required for socio economic growth.

These views were expressed by the experts at Jang Economic Session on ‘how to ensure good governance for economic growth’. The panellists were Ansar Javeed, Aima Mehmood, Dr Samia Amjad, Iftikhar Tabasum, Farhan Shahzad and Waleed Khan while the session was hosted by Sikindar Lodhi.

Ansar Javeed said everyone wants change and it will come with improvement in every sector. He called for developing effective coordination among institutions for good governance and welfare state as lack of coordination is a serious issue. He said indiscipline exists everywhere. People and government are equally responsible for protecting national assets.

Aima Mehmood said new government was also lacking good governance and making cosmetic steps which could not bring real changes. She said Pakistan stood at 146 in human resource development and 143 in gender gap while there is a need to provide equal opportunities to women as well. She said issues could not be resolved with slogans. There should be an effective strategy for good governance. She said situation would not improve with cosmetic projects.

Dr Samia Amjad said citizens were not ready to perform their duties while there is a need to create sense of responsibility among people. She said every sector’s performance could be improved with the help of experts of the sectors concerned and there is a need to revisit priorities. She said health and transport projects should not be politicised and the rulers should give priorities to public interests. She said Pakistan need revolution not a change.

Iftikhar Tabasum said economic issues and dams’ construction could be possible by effectively managing FBR for revenue collection instead of begging globally. He said failure to complete national projects from indigenous resources was deplorable. He said effective accountability, political stability, rule of law, and poverty eradication were needed for good governance. He said Rs9 trillion revenue was collected by plugging tax evasion and discouraging corruption.

Farhan Shahzad said people have high hopes with the new government but problems of 70 years could not be solved in a few days. He called for balancing income, expenditures policy and utilising national resources for public welfare projects. He said all institutions need to bring transparency. He said the idea of austerity is good but the rulers need to implement it to become role model for public.

Waleed Khan said good governance was linked with policymaking and its implementation. He said good governance was required both in public and private sector through accountability, controlling corruption and legal framework policy. He called for steps for economic growth, economic stability, education, and health. He said a taskforce should be constituted for developing good governance.