Economic disintegration spreads with weak governance

LAHORE: In the wake of the worst crisis in our history, we do not need a stubborn leadership, but an engaging leader capable of taking the entire nation forward together. Economic and health ills could only be addressed through unity and dedication.

This engagement is important because the government has lost its writ on all affairs impacting the economy and the pandemic.

The reason is simple. Government has diverted all its resources to teach a lesson to its opponents or those who raised their voice against its misrule.

The state’s interest seems to only revolve around prosecuting all its political opponents. It is using all its resources to keep them in jail through draconian laws.

The government has already kept its fair critic Mir Shakeel Ur Rehman for more than 94 days in custody.

His media group always appreciated any good work done by the state, but at the same time pointed out governance flaws and any corrupt practice or deviation from merit unearthed by its reporting team.

When a state consumes all its energies on taking revenge whether justified or not, it loses its writ. The revengeful government needs the support of all vested interests to help it in its pursuit.

It cannot take action against hoarders, mafias, profiteers and law breakers, as it would not be able to control the agitations that might erupt. So it is operating on the policy of you scratch my back and I scratch yours.

However, during a pandemic, there is no time for point scoring.

The government should be appreciated for its good deeds and the sensible input from the opposition should not be brushed aside by the ruling elite only because it came from political opponents.

This in fact is the principle on which most successful democracies operate even in normal times. In times of crisis, the ruling elite appeals for cooperation from its political opponents and they oblige.

Unfortunately, in Pakistan the ruling elite and the opposition are always miles apart. Take for instance the issue of documenting the economy.

The PTI leadership when it was in opposition sided with the traders in opposing any move by PML-N on documentation. Now after assuming power, it realises the importance of documentation, but is being opposed by the same forces that favoured documentation when they were in power.

In the past there was an exception when the entire political leadership showed unity on the issue of national security, particularly in the wake of Indian aggression.

The ruling elite welcomed the entire opposition for its support.

However, this time around it is unfortunate that we have dented that unity as well. Strangely the opposition seems all willing to stand with the ruling elite on security, but the top PTI leadership is not prepared even to shake hands with the opposition leaders.

The present regime, which was unsuccessfully grappling with the ever increasing economic downslide, unluckily was also confronted with the COVID-19 threat. It handled the pandemic with the same incompetence with which it handled the economy.

There seems no possibility that it could handle the twin crisis of economy and pandemic on its own. It would need the support of the entire nation.

It will have to improve its governance. It will have to bring full transparency in delivery of services. It should plug all loopholes in governance and transparency with the cooperation of the opposition.

All economic and health issues should be handled with merit. There should be an open dialogue between the opposition and the ruling party.

Decisions should be taken immediately on the spot. If the top leadership is shy of negotiating with the opposition, it should authorise its representative to take decisions then and there instead of seeking consent from the top leadership.

We have never been in such a dire state in our history. We have to move ahead with unison. If all vested interests are apprehended, revenues would automatically grow.

If corruption is addressed under a national agenda, we would be able to almost double our development outcomes from the allocated development funds. A unified agenda should ensure that the public sector entities would either operate with full efficiency or they would be closed down.

Power rates would come to a competitive level if theft and distributional inefficiencies were addressed. Raids on power thieves should be conducted with members of ruling elite and opposition along with law enforcing agencies.