LAHORE – A new survey conducted by the Transparency Internaional has madestartling revelations about the current political scenario and thepoliticians in the Pakistan.
It was widely expected that Imran Khan led KP government and the PTIChairman himself would be the most honest leader of Pakistan but theTransparency Internaional reveals otherwise.
Punjab Chief Minister Shehbaz Sharif has surpassed his political rivals onhonesty charts after being voted honest by nearly 50 percent respondents ina survey, conducted by the Transparency International.
According to the survey, Shehbaz Sharif was voted honest by 49% of therespondents, followed by Nawaz Sharif at 40%, Imran Khan at 26% and AsifZardari at 1%.
The figures about the incumbent government of Pakistan MuslimLeague-Nawaz’s (PML-N) role in weeding out corruption were also released.They show PML-N outperformed other parties in reducing corruption andensuring transparency. Results covered a time span of 3 decades andreviewed all the governments in between.
Pakistan, under the PML-N’s, marked an improvement on Corruption PerceptionIndex (CPI) Score during last five years.
In 2012, Pakistan’s CPI was stood at 27th position out of 100. The rankingimproved to 32/100 in 2017. Whereas CPI score of many developed anddeveloping countries has drastically decreased.
When PPP left, Pakistan’s rank from the bottom was 36 and now Pakistan’snumber has reached 64 from the bottom. The Government has gone a long way,similarly, it improved in 1997 and 1998, at 5 and 15 respectively, whichwas 2 in 1996 during PPP led government and 13 in 1999 during Martial law.
The TI highlighted efforts made by PML-N’s leadership to achieve growth. Itadded that a favorable enabling environment for investment andpublic-private partnerships developed due to these efforts.
Despite political protests and demonstrations, especially at the start ofthe term, Pakistan has been able to do well on the stock exchange and interms of market competitiveness internationally.
At the federal level and in Punjab, international contractors have beeninvolved in mega projects across public transport, health and powergeneration in addition to many others, worth billions of rupees.
In the projects, very few reports on corruption were surfaced within thecontracts and immediate investigations into any potential allegations.
Leaders of China and Turkey also commended the role of government tocontrol corruption in the mega projects. There is confidence in the abilityof Punjab and Pakistan as a whole to commission and complete contractswithout corruption, it added.
The TI report said that the role of the Punjab government in exploringpublic-private partnerships such as outsourcing has also facilitatedtransparency.
It is believed that the private sector is able to manage funds moreproductively, aggressive efforts to improve the efficiency of the marketstructure beyond rigid government architecture is therefore commended andbuilds faith in the fact the government is trying to bridge the gapsidentified.
The existence of public sector companies to innovate service delivery isanother factor that supports this. These section 42 companies mimic privatesector companies and report to a board of qualified technocrats, experts,academics and government officials so that there is an added layer ofaccountability to the departments, further transforming the modes ofgovernance.
Similarly, increases in revenue and savings which are now more widelyreported as well have helped society view the government as transparent orat least moving in that direction.
This includes the role of improved public procurement, particularly throughtechnological interventions, strong negotiations and centralizedprocurements where Government has reported savings of billions of rupees.
An example in this regard is PKR 682 billion saved in 12 mega projects inPunjab in last 5 years. This includes power plants, Orange Line MetroTrain, Metro buses, Chiniot iron ore deposits and Punjab Safe Cities etc.Moreover, the increase in taxation revenue at a provincial level such asthe increase collection of GST by the Punjab Revenue Authority has improvedperceptions.
Social sector reforms in Health, Education, Water, Sanitation and socialprotection has increased transparency, particularly through the increasedaccountability mechanisms.
In education, Ghost schools have almost entirely been eradicated in Punjabwhich is continuously monitored, teachers are hired purely on merit,healthcare funds are also being utilized effectively at a district levelthrough the Health Councils and the drug control regime has an effectivemechanism to remove and penalize counterfeit medicines.
Members of the society are also told that budget allocations have increasedwith underutilization massively reduced over the years for the socialsectors.
The Land Reforms in Punjab have been appreciated by international partnerslike the World Bank. These reforms and their reporting have allowed forgreater transparency and improved perceptions of the work being undertaken.
Ease and accessibility of information is another reason that transparencyhas improved. Multiple helplines for different interventions anddepartments exist, people are able to contact departments with queriesregarding service provision; this dissemination of information has alsoaffected the perception of governance in a positive light.
The existence of citizen feedback models such as through the PunjabInformation Technology Board has also allowed for closer coordination withcitizens; not only do people feel important that their opinion is beingtaken into consideration but their feedback is actually taken by thedepartments to take corrective action.
Technological advancements and open access websites reporting servicedelivery data, such as that for education, immunization, land records andothers are some of the factors that have brought citizens closer in theiropinion to what they think the government is doing.