Why NAB Must Go
What could possibly be worse than corruption?
Inaction.
As a leader running a business or a government department, you have three choices:
1. Make good decisions
2. Make bad decisions
3. Make no decisions
In the last 3+ years of trying to build a corruption-free Pakistan, NAB became the leading decision-killer. Instead of wondering "how this would benefit people", bureaucrats and politicians would ask themselves: will NAB come after me?
There is nothing wrong with transparency and accountability. But what if the organisation responsible for accountability was operating to:
1. Harass people instead of finding truth
2. Question without understanding
This abuse of power coupled with incompetence meant that while true corruption could not be prosecuted, the whole system came to a grinding halt. Instead of an instrument of transparent governance, we had a regime of no-governance.
But this decision-killing machine did not affect one type of action: foreign-funded projects. Whether it is Chinese or World Bank or Korean - when the funding is coming from outside Pakistan, NAB was silent. If the projects are being executed by foreign companies, NAB was silent.
So what happened?
The only decisions that our government machinery was comfortable making had nothing to do with local resource mobilisation. Everything was loans. That led to expensive hard currency projects which came with a big string: principal and interest payments.
We should find ways to end corruption but not at the cost of governance. That can only happen when our system of accountability empowers and emboldens good decision makers instead of killing initiative and common sense.
1. Corruption must be addressed, but NAB is the wrong organisation for this.
2. While trying to kill corruption, we should fix the fundamental governance issues first - otherwise, its like trying to run a gasoline-powered car with electricity.
3. Responsibility must go with authority.
4. To address corruption, we should focus on "outcomes" not just "process adherence".
While you protest the "imported government", also think about the next PTI-government and how it will overcome its mistakes from the first term.
Unless the first term was great and you want more of the same?
Via Shahjahan Chaudhary
Why NAB Must Go
What could possibly be worse than corruption?
Inaction.
As a leader running a business or a government department, you have three choices:
1. Make good decisions
2. Make bad decisions
3. Make no decisions
In the last 3+ years of trying to build a corruption-free Pakistan, NAB became the leading decision-killer. Instead of wondering "how this would benefit people", bureaucrats and politicians would ask themselves: will NAB come after me?
There is nothing wrong with transparency and accountability. But what if the organisation responsible for accountability was operating to:
1. Harass people instead of finding truth
2. Question without understanding
This abuse of power coupled with incompetence meant that while true corruption could not be prosecuted, the whole system came to a grinding halt. Instead of an instrument of transparent governance, we had a regime of no-governance.
But this decision-killing machine did not affect one type of action: foreign-funded projects. Whether it is Chinese or World Bank or Korean - when the funding is coming from outside Pakistan, NAB was silent. If the projects are being executed by foreign companies, NAB was silent.
So what happened?
The only decisions that our government machinery was comfortable making had nothing to do with local resource mobilisation. Everything was loans. That led to expensive hard currency projects which came with a big string: principal and interest payments.
We should find ways to end corruption but not at the cost of governance. That can only happen when our system of accountability empowers and emboldens good decision makers instead of killing initiative and common sense.
1. Corruption must be addressed, but NAB is the wrong organisation for this.
2. While trying to kill corruption, we should fix the fundamental governance issues first - otherwise, its like trying to run a gasoline-powered car with electricity.
3. Responsibility must go with authority.
4. To address corruption, we should focus on "outcomes" not just "process adherence".
While you protest the "imported government", also think about the next PTI-government and how it will overcome its mistakes from the first term.
Unless the first term was great and you want more of the same?
Via Shahjahan Chaudhary
