Not a day passes without the media spotlighting the pervasive phenomenon of bad governance in the country, which manifests itself in various shades of colour. The craze of self-enrichment by the ruling and powerful classes to the utter neglect of the interests and basic needs of the people at large lies at the root of this corrosive malady. Corruption, the common word for self-enrichment, finds mention in, just to pick yesterday’s newspapers, the reporting of the address of PPP Chairman Bilawal Zardari at the ‘Leaders of Tomorrow’ ceremony held at the Presidency; in PML-N President Mian Nawaz Sharif’s meeting with partymen; in Punjab Chief Minister Mian Shahbaz Sharif’s observations in an interview with a TV channel; and hinted at in Chief Justice Iftikhar Chaudhry’s remark while lamenting the dreadful law and order situation in Balochistan.
And corruption, coupled with lack of vision, inefficiency and incompetence, gives rise to lots of other acts of bad governance. Terrorist killings, for instance, in Karachi as well as Balochistan where the riddle of disappearances complicates the issue create hopelessness and desperation among the general public. Both the Sindh capital and Balochistan, if left to take their own course as appears to be the case, pose grave threat to the strength and integrity of the country. Karachi has been in focus in the past two days when sectarian attack made the target-killing brew still more poisonous. But, thanks to the Supreme Court’s untiring essay, the scary situation in the province has never been out of sight. On Wednesday again, Justice Chaudhry gave the provincial government another lease of life to set its own house in order, but not without castigating it for its failings: targeted killings and mysterious abductions. He is right in saying that the provincial government’s incompetence and lack of will are to blame. Expressing his support to the parliamentary system, he recalled his previous observations to prove that he did not say anything against the Balochistan Assembly, but only the government.
There are several other evils born of bad governance: inflation, a virtual absence of public transport, poorly equipped hospitals and clinics, little interest in uplifting the public school system which encourages the privately run educational institutions to impose their own fee structure. The ultimate victim of all this is the citizen and it is characteristic of corruption-led bad governance to ignore his welfare.