Breaking the Cycle of Failed Civil Service Reforms in Pakistan

Pakistan has a long history of failed attempts at civil service reform. Each government announces ambitious plans to revamp the bureaucratic machinery, promising a more efficient, transparent and accountable civil service.

Pakistan's repeated failures at civil service reform stem largely from who leads these efforts—commissions dominated by retired civil servants. Reforming a system by relying on those who have benefited from its inefficiencies is akin to “asking the gatekeeper to change the rules of entry." Their deep-rooted familiarity with the bureaucracy often prevents them from advocating for the kind of transformative change needed. As a result, reforms have focused on surface-level adjustments, like pay scales and perks, rather than addressing the fundamental issues of political interference, meritocracy, and accountability.

A key issue with the civil service structure is its colonial legacy. British colonizers designed the system to control, not serve. This extractive model relied on a few thousand westernized officials -- with bureaucrats considering themselves superior to the people they ruled. The mindset persists today, with federal bureaucrats often undermining provincial services, which hampers effective governance at the local level. Despite constitutional guarantees, provincial administrations remain underdeveloped, viewed as secondary to central power.

True reform requires a bold reimagining of governance, moving beyond the cozy club of privilege and towards a citizen-centric approach. We need leaders with the courage to dismantle outdated hierarchies and establish accountability, not those bound by a colonial mindset. Only by involving independent experts, policy specialists, and those committed to genuine public service can we hope to build a responsive, transparent civil service that truly serves the people.

Check out the article published in The Express Tribune: https://tribune.com.pk/story/2503980/civil-service-reforms-breaking-the-cycle-of-failure

Corruption as a Tool of Social Control in Pakistan

The pervasive nature of corruption in Pakistan, particularly within the civil service, poses a significant challenge to the country's development and prosperity. That no serious attempt has been made to root out corruption leads one to argue that the vested interests have deliberately encouraged corruption and consciously groomed corrupt officials to weaken institutions of governance in the country. Weak governance helps sustain elite's social control over the masses. 

The roots of corruption as a tool for social control in Pakistan can be traced back to the colonial era. The British established a system of land ownership that favored local elites and powerful landlords, leading to the concentration of power and wealth among a select few.[1] This system of state-sponsored social control has persisted, with powerful agricultural elites continuing to exert significant influence on successive governments and undermining attempts at reform.

To maintain their privileges and power, the ruling elites in Pakistan have deliberately sustained illiteracy and poverty, creating a society in which the majority of citizens remain dependent on the corrupt system for their basic needs.[2] Another ploy the ruling elites employ to maintain their social control is to keep civil service weak, incompetent, corrupt, and unprofessional. This is achieved through the illegal induction of corrupt civil servants and the appointment of corrupt individuals to lucrative and important posts within the government.[3]

The elites patronize corrupt officials in the district administration and police. Upright and competent officers are viewed as threats and are quickly replaced by compliant officials who are willing to do the bidding of their corrupt masters. This creates a culture of corruption and sleaze, where honest civil servants become a rarity, and most government institutions are rendered ineffective.

A competent, honest, and professional civil service is a threat to the ruling elites, as it opens alternative avenues for the common people and challenges the status quo. These people do not brook the possibility of their voters benefiting from a just and professional service delivery system, which will create additional avenues for their straightjacketed voters and lower the ruling elite’s importance in the estimation of these poor masses.

The widespread corruption in Pakistan has led to government offices becoming dens of chaos and inefficiency, where no file moves without the payment of bribes. This has a detrimental impact on the country's development, as it stifles entrepreneurship and perpetuates poverty and inequality. But, in the presence of such a system can only the ruling elites thrive and maintain their social control – let it be at the cost of country’s economic growth and social progress. While these elites resist to any form of reform that may undermine their control of land and resources [4], the country has been inexorably and rapidly falling behind in every avenue if compared with its neighbors and countries in other regions.

In short, corruption in Pakistan has deliberately been allowed to thrive as a tool of social control. The elite capture of power and wealth, coupled with the deliberate weakening of the civil service and the appointment of corrupt individuals to important posts, has led to a society in which corruption is ingrained and institutionalized. To break this cycle and pave the way for a more equitable and prosperous future, it is imperative that Pakistan addresses the issue of corruption head-on, through comprehensive reforms and the establishment of transparent and accountable institutions.

References

De Soto, H., & Albright, M. K. (2008). "Making the law work for everyone." Working Group Report (Volume II). New York: Commission on Legal Empowerment of the Poor and the United Nations Development Program.

Montgomery, J. D. (1972). "Allocation of authority in land reform programs: A comparative study of administrative processes and outputs." Administrative Science Quarterly, 17(1), 62-75. 

World Bank. (2003). "Land Policies for Growth and Poverty Reduction. Policy Research Report." Oxford University Press. New York. 

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[1] Montgomery, 1972

[2] De Soto & Albright, 2008

[3] World Bank, 2003

[4] De Soto & Albright, 2008

The Vicious Circle of Political Corruption

With the extent of corruption as we have in Pakistan, it will not be an exaggeration to say that anything can be done or had in this country if you are able to pay the "right" price. Keep ratcheting up the stake and the "characters" will ultimately buckle and sell their mother/country/honor.... Corrupt elites/ rulers use brazen violation of merit as their ultimate weapon to maintain and bolster their "social controls." The resultant cronyism adversely affects governance and causes the collapse of social delivery infrastructures. This decay goes hand-in-hand with pervasive injustices and atrocities that lead to violence and all types of social strife. Corruption hollows institutions and leads to their total collapse. A country hollowed institutionally cannot survive economically. 

When corruption results in economic collapse and ruins the future of generations, it can be termed as heinous a crime as "genocide." When corruption putrefies the structures of governance, it causes the nation to fail and makes the country susceptible to subjugation before its enemies. In that case, corruption can very rightly be likened to "high treason."

Here I portray the catastrophic effects of high-level/ political corruption graphically.

Who opposes presidential form of government in Pakistan?

Inheritance tax

When Corruption Kills!

In an op-ed piece that appeared in The News of August 1, 2019, I wrote: 

Corruption ... upends lives and shatters dreams. It has a multi-generational calamitous effect. When public sector corruption results in loss of life, its negative consequences can well be compared to those of terrorism. Link here.

I quoted Prof. Michael Johnston of Colgate University to describe systemic corruption, which creates an inexorable feedback loop in which malfeasance at the higher levels of governance intensifies incidence of ordinary bribery, fraud and extortionary practices at the lower levels.

My point was that the rulers can easily find public funds to finance a lavish lifestyle for themselves and to shower favors on their supporters. But they do not want to provide basic infrastructure and facilities for hospital and schools and invest in other essential social services for people. I gave the following examples, which show how the ruling elites' indifference results in catastrophic consequences for individuals, families, communities and generations.

1. On September 1, 2007, a portion of a newly constructed Northern Bypass flyover at Sher Shah, Karachi, collapsed killing at least five people and injuring many others. Among the killed were three sole breadwinners of their families and a young student. 

   

   A few hours after the collapse of the Sher Shah flyover (Source: Dawn)

   The bridge was built at a cost of about Rs. 3.5 billion and was inaugurated with great fanfare just a month earlier by no less than the President of Pakistan. The project was executed by the National Highways Authority (NHA) through the National Logistics Cell (NLC), which had subcontracted it to a private firm. An inquiry committee, later, determined that “neglect” and “design fault” were the root causes of the collapse.
2. On July 2, 2015, a special train carrying soldiers of Pakistan Army Corps of Engineers derailed at a bridge on a canal near Gujranwala that left 19 of its passengers dead and scores injured. 

   

   Rescue operations after the train fell off the bridge (Source: AFP)

   The investigation report attributed the cause of the accident to an ill-maintained railway track whose joints had come loose and to a creaky pre-partition bridge.
   
   A few days later, social media carried a picture taken just before the train’s departure from the Pano Akil Railway Station of one of the officers and his family - all of whom died in the accident. 

   

   The Jadoon family a while before the ill-fated train departed (Source: Twitter)

   The picture depicted a happy family with smiles and hopes of a more rewarding future. But that was never to be because of the action or inaction on part of some corrupt and indifferent people somewhere in some department or bureau.
3. When an overturned oil tanker caught fire at Ahmedpur East near Lodhran in June 2017, more than 100 people died within a few minutes, but dozens more later succumbed to their injuries as there was no standard burns unit in the area hospitals within a couple of hours drive.
4. After the terrorist attack at a mosque in Shikarpur in 2015, scores of people died on the spot, but the death count substantially increased as there was no well-equipped trauma center outside the remote cities of Hyderabad and Karachi.

Professor Johnston believes that just "relying on 'political will' to fight corruption is 'magical thinking'." Then what course of action remains? I think most people will endorse that dealing with corruption requires a multilevel, multi-institutional and multi-dimensional approach – an action plan involving some concerted, concrete and consistent measures. A good example to follow is that of China, which has been quite ruthless in dealing with its corrupt government functionaries. We do not tire of lavishing praise on that country for its spectacular economic progress and development. It's time we also followed China in practice and adopted some of the measures it has taken to tame the monster of corruption and build its institutions.

National Character

National character cannot be built by law. It is the sum of the moral fiber of its individuals. – Herbert Hoover.

In an op-ed, a couple of years ago, I wrote on the role of “leaders” in disseminating values and building next generations’ character. I argued:

The role models for the Pakistani public are leaders tainted with various scandals of character and integrity. The youth are steadily reminded that relying on ‘merit’ is not as rewarding as investing one’s energies and talents in currying favor with the elites. The term meritocracy in this country has been relegated to the realm of impossibility. Link here.

Charles Duhigg, in his self-help block-buster The Power of Habit, recommends that, to rid oneself of a bad habit, one needs to break free from the "triggers" or “reinforcers” of that habit.

And, basing my point on Duhigg’s proposed strategy, I emphasized:

Pakistan needs to immediately embark on purging all such “reinforcers” of malfeasance among politicians and civil servants.

We must act before it is too late. Time and tide wait for none!