De Silva’s art

A leader with political will and commitment can do wonders. Unfortunately, we are short of this commodity. Lola de Silva of Brazil was not well educated but he was dedicated to his vision and commitment. When he was elected to the presidency in 2002 the economy of his country was in a bad shape and was dependant on the IMF. His mission was to get rid of the IMF debt trap so he selected capable men to form his cabinet. Through good governance and better management, he changed the destiny of the nation. Thus a borrower became a creditor. After completing two terms in office, De Silva decided not to run for the third time though his popularity graph was still at 87 percent.

Is this success story not enough to make our finance minister envious? Would it not be better for him to visit Brazil instead of Dubai, meet De Silva and seek his advice over how to run the economy efficiently? He also needs to learn from De Silva the art of self-reliance in managing the economy.

Raja Shafaatullah

Islamabad