Andleeb Abbas
The phrase ‘government servant’ is taken literally by government. This literal understanding and compliance of this world is in conflict with their real role and responsibility of a government servant, i.e., to be serving public interest. Actually the real word is Civil Servant which is defined as “A civil servant or a public servant is a person employed in the public sector employed for a government department or agency”. However, many times this definition takes a back seat to the commands of the those who command the power to instate, reinstate, remove and reward the public servant. That is why the era of the civil servant integrity and honour is more of a bygone tale that seems more of folklore than a matter of duty.
Civil servants were mostly mocked on being bureaucrats who would go by the rules of the business written in the proverbial red taped file with such conformance that the issue would be dragged, delayed, prolonged to the a level where its relevance would finish. This description has a universal application to these jobs. However, the new Civil Service cadre in the country has emerged as more than just file carriers. They can be extremely efficient, competent, execution focused depending on what their own “ownership” is in the job at hand. Power and politics go together and what the civil servant has learned is that in this uncivil political environment power and position are directly correlated with political affiliations and shareholding. This lesson has bred a new class of bureaucrats that become more powerful than the men in charge of governing the country.
Previously, the nexus of corrupt practices involved family and friends of the party ruling the government. Heads of institutions were appointed on family connections and nepotism.
However, the loyal bureaucrat has beaten the loyal friend formula. DMG officers are said to be extremely good at project execution. It is within their job descriptions; it is their expertise; it is their role and responsibility; Most government schemes are headed by these competent officers and somehow end up in disasters. One such scheme Ashiana Housing scheme, which was supposed to provide over 300 hundred houses to the homeless poor and failed to achieve any such target, is a case study of how politicians and bureaucracy combine to whiten grey projects. In Ashiana housing scheme, Punjab Land Development Company assigned the Ashiana Housing Scheme project to LDA, where Ahad Cheema as its Director General allegedly misused his authority and received illegal gratification in the form of 32 kanals of land valuing approximately Rs 30 million from the owners of Paragon City. To qualify for this reward Ahad Cheema awarded the contract for the project to Lahore Casa Developers, a company that was ineligible for the contract, but was a proxy for Paragon City owners that also allegedly included Khawaja Saad Rafique a PML-N minister. These allegations have of course been denied by Ahad Cheema and PML-N without giving any explanation and justification of why the poor did not get the 300 houses of a few marlas while Ahad Cheema got 32 kanals in this scheme.
Similarly, Fawad Hassan Fawad, another bureaucrat, who was and is the principal secretary to the prime minister, has become more powerful than politicians. His involvement in the Ashiana Scheme is just one aspect. He has the distinction of being called the most corrupt person by PML-N parliamentarians in the National Assembly like Captain Safdar and Riaz Peerzada. He has been summoned by NAB for Ashiana Scheme to explain his ‘dubious’ role. He also has a case in NAB on assets beyond means for having a plaza worth Rs 12 billion in Rawalpindi. Despite these cases they are considered by the PM and the CM as extraordinary officers and have been given promotions that have been questioned by their colleagues in media and in courts. Ahad Cheema while in jail was overnight promoted from Grade 19 to Grade 20 and Fawad Hassan Fawad’s name was in the court case of out of turn promotions done by Central Selection Board.
The politicization of bureaucracy is now a norm with each government bringing their “own” men on key positions. These men are not only brought in with scarce regard for rules but also become above the law. Consider the arrest of Ahad Cheema. He was given two notices to come and explain his position to NAB but he did not appear. As per rules he was arrested. This has sparked an outrage in a section of bureaucracy, where they, for the first time in history, locked the Secretariat in protest against NAB. The ruling party has passed a resolution against NAB in the Punjab Assembly against picking up men of favour. Simply put if the assets in the name of any bureaucrat are explainable in today’s world of social media they just need to make the documents viral to win public support. No such explanations are there.
Public service is not just a noble profession but a duty as their salaries are not paid by government but by public funds. The man who pays you is the man whom you serve. But if the payment is over and above the salary in the form of project payoff shareholding then the mindset of serving the one who enables assets beyond salary is what prevails. This is why public service delivery is so miserable; this is why public issue management is abysmal; this is why public projects become victims of greed and graft. Civil Service reforms are the need of the hour but for that we need to have lawmakers who believe and act in the rule of law not in the rule of rulers.
(The writer can be reached at [email protected])
