By Ajmal Khan Yousafzai
ISLAMABAD: Institutional reforms and streamlining functioning of the government departments and organizations to enhance efficiency and making them cost effective had been a gigantic task for respective governments.
Although the previous governments made tall claims about enhancing efficiency of the government departments and state owned enterprises. But every passing day witnessed deterioration in dispensation and financial non-viability of key departments like Pakistan Railways, Pakistan International Airlines and Pakistan Steel besides many other small enterprises.
The present government led by Prime Minister Imran Khan also took the challenge to reforms these departments and organization to make them financially viable and enhance their performance.
A seasoned expert and economist, Dr Ishrat Hussain, a well known reformist, was appointed as Advisor to the Prime Minister for executing this task. This time the issue is being addressed in a phased manner as stated by Dr Ishrat Hussain talking to APP with hopes to derive desired results of putting the institutions on right path to make them contribute in national building.
“Institutional reforms have been divided into four parts. First to reorganize federal institutions by abandoning unnecessary institutions and merging those performing the same job,” Dr Ishrat Hussain said. “There were 441 government departments with many set up without any future planning. We have reorganized and reduced these institutions to 342 either by merging, shutting down or privatizing.”
Secondly, the Advisor said the government is reorganizing, reviving, and restructuring the key institutions such as Pakistan International Airlines (PIA), Pakistan Railways, Pakistan Steels Mills and other State Owned Enterprises (SOEs).
Ishrat Hussain mentioned to civil service reforms as third area and said, major reforms have been finalized and some are implemented as well. “In my view, the weakest aspect of the country’s civil service was performance evaluation and promotion policy as we don’t differentiate between a good performer and a bad performer.”
In new performance policy, he said, instead of depending merely on Annual Confidential Report (ACR) of employees, a system of key performance indicators has been introduced.”The promotion would now be on the basis of performance, training and competence and not the seniority alone.”
