BOTH President Zardari and Mian Nawaz Sharif have spoken about the countrys governance, interpreting it in contrasting terms. If one talks of having taken difficult decisions in search for a brighter future, the other castigates the ruling classes for completely neglecting the peoples basic needs and looking after their own interests. The Presidents boast that future historians would term Pakistans decisions as a turning point in the war on terror lacks substance. What they would more likely state in bold relief would be that the democratic leaderships acutely myopic perception about the countrys salvation lying in continuing to support the US in this utterly wrong war. They would more likely pen down the nations suffering the government policies entailed. His impression that these policies will enable the country to progress in the fields of economy, education, agriculture and energy is contradicted by the ground realities. Reversal of the sagging fortunes in the multifarious sectors of the economy calls for reversal of the pro-US approach. Mian Nawaz Sharif rightly blames the government for failing to deliver in the past two years. He accuses 'unscrupulous elements of keeping their Swiss accounts full of cash, as the public is left in the lurch. Stressing the importance of democracy, he bemoans that Bonapartist generals had been disloyal to their profession by politicising the army and derailing the political process. The President must realise that the rosy picture he is portraying is contrary to reality. The public is completely dismayed at the absence of good governance in government departments and ministries. Corruption is taking such a heavy toll that the country seems to be an institutional graveyard in the making. How can the present policies pay dividends when projects crucial to the economy like the Kalabagh dam are being shelved indefinitely? The energy conundrum and the way it swayed the nation to and fro is a slur on all the claims of good governance. Even projects on a small scale could not be handled properly. Take the RPPs for that matter. The purchase of the worn-out plants, amid reports of kickbacks and shady deals, is a glaring example of how the government intends to look after the public and deliver on its promises. The PML-N runs the Punjab province and owing to that cannot escape the blame of the existing state of affairs as far as that province is concerned. The electorate deserve better from what they have been getting from their representatives. Apart from the future of the political players, democracy itself is at stake.