Blockchain Karachi

The Rs1,100 billion Karachi package announced by Prime Minister Imran Khan is not enough. Without transparency, no amount of money will ever be enough to fix Karachi.

For every sector of the city’s infrastructure, there’s a mafia whose existence depends on making sure that development never happens. Mass transport will make buses redundant, line water will sweep away the tanker mafia, clear devolution of power will force the provincial government of the Pakistan People’s Party to solely focus on its primary job of making laws, and so on.

Transparency and Accountability (T&A) are the basis of good governance. In the case of Karachi, both have been lacking to the core. There’s so much confusion over various aspects of governance and so much complication in matters related to devolution of power that any attempt at accountability allows relevant authorities a wide berth to deny culpability.

A Provincial Coordination Implementation Committee (PCIC) led by CM Sindh Murad Ali Shah is to oversee all the projects announced under the Karachi aid package. Although PCIC will comprise all the stakeholders, direct public oversight will be missing. E-governance is, for now, the only way to ensure that Karachi aid money doesn’t end up in pockets and is properly and honestly spent.

Living up to the expectations of the 21st century, the government needs to set up an active website that can track each and every penny of the aid package. Names and credentials of contractors and consultants, their bills and receipts, details of companies filing and receiving tenders, feasibility reports, etc should be there for all the citizens of Karachi to see. If a document can be shoved into a filing cabinet why can’t it be uploaded. If necessary, blockchain all transactions down to the tiniest of payments. Citizens should collectively invoke the right to information before the fact.

And why not? The right to access information was made part of the constitution by the 18th Amendment, which declared under Article 19-A that “Every citizen shall have the right to have access to information in all matters of public importance subject to regulation and reasonable restrictions imposed by law.” This time around, the Karachi Transformation Plan should not be allowed to hide behind politics, lies and mafias.

Such e-governance should be extended to Defence Housing Authority and Cantonment Board Clifton. Their collections, charges, taxes and dues should all be clearly displayed online so that no administrator, no governing board, no provincial authority can fudge details and skim money.

The people of Karachi deserve transparency. This is not a monarchy that rulers are not answerable to their subjects. Neither is this a colony where right to information on purely civil matters is subject to the whims of national security.

Measured by any standard of transparency and ethics, Karachi is a living, breathing example of the toxic relationship between political parties, institutions of public service, big businesses and criminal organizations; they coexist harmoniously and with impunity at the cost of Karachi.

It’s time for the residents of this megacity to take back the reins of decision-making by demanding transparency and accountability for every penny generated by Karachi and its citizens. The people of Karachi need to understand that, while democracy is all good and pretty to look at, without devolution of authority to the bottom-most rung, the inherently corrupt nature of power will always triumph. For politicians and public service institutions, this power is an end in itself. For big businesses and crime cartels, this power is a means to an end. But for the people of Karachi this power can mean the difference between development and drowning.

Where there is money, there will always be those wanting to steal some if not all of it. And when that money is over a trillion rupees with ever high stakes, the tug of war can most likely lead to stalemate. Without transparent e-governance, the Karachi transformation plan will not work.

It took barely a day after the announcement of the Karachi aid package for the tug of war to start. Bilawal Bhutto Zardari has already demanded that the aid money be given directly and solely to the Sindh government. Other political parties too have started to voice concerns over the feasibility of such an ambitious project. To break the toxic cycle of grievances and greed, put everything online. Let not the rot follow.

The writer is an executive producer, Geo News and editor of Jang – The Economist annual edition.

Twitter: @munazza193