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Public sector structural reforms vital for good governance: Ahsan
APP
ISLAMABAD – Minister for Planning Development and Reforms Professor Ahsan Iqbal here on Monday stressed the need for introducing structural reforms in civil services, education, health, police and criminal justice for improving the governance in Pakistan.
Addressing “Pakistan Governance Forum 2014,” he said reforms in civil services structure were vital to achieve the desired results of good governance set in Vision 2025 for economic development and social prosperity. “Every time governments set different goals for national development, they make plans and deliberate on these plans but they fail to achieve these goals due to non-implementation of these plans,” he added.
He said that structure of civil services was based on old traditional patron besides the national curriculum was also outdated which was not matching the current requirements of Pakistan. He said that there was no mechanism to judge the performance of civil services which was a major impediment in institutional development and service delivery for the masses in Pakistan.
“We have to put right man for right job by dividing the civil services in specialised groups and giving the due place to the professionals,” he added, to achieve the desired national goals for development. He also urged the need for political stability and continuity of polices for adopting a consolidated approach for capacity building of institutions to take the country forward.
Ahsan said that Pakistan expressed solidarity and unity against terrorist attack and killing of innocent children in Peshawar which was exemplary adding that same unity need for making national economic development plane to overcome economic challenges. He said that the government would organise governance forum every year to review the past year's performance and set targets for coming year to improve promote good governance to come up with public expectation.
He said that from the input of the conference a good governance agenda would be formed and presented before federal cabinet for approval and reforms would be implemented in letter and spirit. He said that from last 65 years Pakistan was managed with adhocism which had created a huge vacuum at policy level and the country had to faced different challenges including electric, gas and water shortages. In this regard, he said that the government has formed Vision 2015 and gave a road map for economic growth and social sector development by introducing five enablers and six pillars for uplift of Pakistan.
Speaking on the occasion, Dr Ishrat Hussain suggested for separating the responsibilities of states and market and devolution of power at districts level for better services delivery and enhance the performances of public services. He said that the poor governance was the major cause of all the challenges faced by Pakistan including education, health care, electricity, gas shortages and security problems.
Courtesy www.dailytimes.com.pk