Role of good governance
GOVERNANCE can either be good or bad based on the manner in which a power is exercised by the governments to manage the state’s social and economic resources. There has been great talk about the poor economic condition of the country which compels everyone to believe that scant resources are the main cause of every evil that befalls the nation.
The news that an amount of Rs934.30 billion was allocated for the provinces from 2002-03 to 2010-11 under PSDP but only Rs171.75 billion or 18.40 per cent of it was utilised falls as a bucket of icy water upon the heated brows of the population.
However, this exemplifies that not lack of resources but an inherent lack of good governance is what ails the country.
On the one hand, provinces are struggling for an increase in funds while on the other have miserably failed to develop any effective mechanism to spend the allocations in an appropriate manner. Although Balochistan was successful enough to get a higher allocation of Rs238 billion, it remained unable to utilise more than 13 per cent of it.
The state of the economy is amply evident by the sheer mismanagement of resources which forms only part of the governance theory.
Coming to the department of the democratic institutions that ought to be representative and effective, you are compelled to conclude that there are serious discrepancies in the autonomous functioning of the legislature, the judiciary and the executive.
A country at war without an effective anti-terror law is just as unfortunate as the state of its economic management or even more. That terrorists and criminals are released scot-free by courts speaks volumes for administrative dysfunctionalities.
It is unfortunate that instead of accepting and rectifying personal problems, the authorities concerned deem it more appropriate to ask for assistance from the US as soon as a window of opportunity presents itself.
Good governance is the only means through which we can break free from all our woes to address other significant issues that keep peppering up to spice up our already overwhelming lives.
DR NIDA SHAMI
Windsor, Canada
Source: DAWN
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