Appointment skills

We live in a world where specialists in various fields, instead of bureaucrats, can deliver. There is no place for people who consider themselves jacks of all trades. Ronald Reagan the 40th US president, a former actor with average intellect, was a most successful president, because he had capacity for self-assessment and his personal limitations. Reagan selected a team of highly qualified specialists to make policy decisions and when he left office in 1989 had approval rating of 68 percent matching FD Roosevelt. Throughout his two-term tenure as president of the US, Reagan did not choose any of his former colleagues from the Screen Actors Guild for prominent state assignments, because in his opinion it would be like the blind leading the blind.

The problem with Pakistan’s ruling elite is that on assuming power they rely upon their cronies whose knowledge of economic, science, agriculture, education, health etc is as limited as their own. In a country with no scarcity of highly qualified educated talented individuals, there is no justification of appointing people with no specialized skills, trained only as administrators to serve in policymaking corridors. This has resulted in a massive brain drain and erosion of former successful state institutions. As long as the blind lead the blind, Pakistan will continue to suffer.

Malik Tariq Ali

Lahore