PTI manifesto

PTI Manifesto 2018, ‘The Road to Naya Pakistan’, is one of the best election manifestos I have come across. In 61 pages, less than 650 sentences and less than 15,000 words the Manifesto rightly identifies our five major problems: our deep ‘governance’ flaws; the fast rising ‘national debt’; the ‘electricity’ bomb; the ‘perpetually money-losing State Owned Enterprises’ and the deeply flawed ‘government procurement’ process.

Look at page 6: “PTI strongly believes that an ineffective state structure has generated a crisis of governance that has effectively marginalised everyone in the country except a small elite.” Page 26: “...pay-off the massive national debt accumulated over the last decade.” Page 31: “...heavy line losses and power theft.” Page 30: “PTI will turnaround State-Owned Enterprises (SOEs).” Page 16: “We will reform public processes such as procurement…”

Not only has the Manifesto rightly identified our five major problems, it also prescribes solutions to these problems. The world ‘reform’ appears 46 times. The PTI will ‘reform the civil service, reform the FBR, reform the police, reforms in governance, reform government procurement, reform education, reform the prison system, legislative reforms and reform the foreign service. Honestly, has anything been really reformed?

For the record, ‘current account deficit’ appears only once in the Manifesto but has been repeated a thousand times over the past year. On the other hand, the word ‘ensure’ appears 77 times; 77 promises that the PTI will ‘ensure’ a whole host of things including “courts to ensure speedy justice (page 14).” Honestly, what has the PTI really ensured over the past 28 months? The word ‘provide’ appears 50 times. Honestly, what has the PTI really ‘provided’ that has not been there before?

The PTI promised to “transform governance (page 2).” On the ground, we have Buzdar in Punjab and Buzdar-plus in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa. Page 29 states: “...to scale up and move toward value-added exports.” The word ‘export’ appears 32 times. Fact: Exports over the 2018-2020 period are down by 9 percent.

To be certain, at the time of the writing of PTI Manifesto 2018, the PTI knew what was wrong with us. To be sure, at the time of the writing of PTI Manifesto 2018, the PTI knew very well that the only way out is to ‘reform’. Over time, PM Imran Khan has adopted ‘demolition of the opposition’ as his sole raison d'être. Honestly, the PTI did not reform – not a thing, not a sector.

The word ‘economy’ or ‘economic’ appears 51 times. And, our security is directly dependent on our economy. Page 58: “PTI’s Defence and Security policy will be made multidimensional.” On the ground, the PTI has sucked the establishment into too many aspects of governance just when the establishment has so many other crucial issues to tackle.

I am convinced that PM Imran Khan’s original ‘intention’ to ‘reform’ is still intact. The most crucial element missing is ‘capacity’. ‘Intention’ plus ‘capacity’ equals ‘delivery’. Hopefully, the PM will now focus on building capacity – and build it fast. The other crucial element that is missing is ‘political stability’ – and the path to political stability is through a political dialogue, nothing but a dialogue.

The writer is a columnist based in Islamabad.

Email: farrukh15@hotmail.com Twitter: @saleemfarrukh