ISLAMABAD - In order to plug the loopholes in the deliverance of the government departments and to bring overall improvement in governance, ruling Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) has decided to hold the National Governance Forum during next month.
Well-placed sources in the ruling PML-N informed The Nation that the decision to this effect was taken by the prime minister in consultation with his select cabinet colleagues. Federal Minister for Planning and Development Ch Ahsan Iqbal has been assigned the task of holding the National Governance Forum to have input and suggestions from various stakeholders as well as foreign experts to bring improvement in the overall functioning of the government.
Certain quarters are according great importance to the move and trying to develop some linkage of the government’s plan with the Army’s caution about the mal-governance of incumbent political dispensation, the point firmly rejected by the ruling PML-N people.
Sources said that Federal Minister for Planning and Development had already done a lot of spade work on it and Planning Commission was working on it for quite some time much before the statement if ISPR, for holding the National Governance Forum in December.
According to the plan, the experts on governance both from within the country and from abroad would be invited to the forum and then in the light of their suggestions and proposals radical changes would be made to improve the deliverance system in various government departments so that the people of Pakistan would start reaping the benefits of incumbent political dispensation.
When asked about the linkage of current move with the statement of ISPR raising questions on the governance of the civil administration, a senior PML-N leader, who did not want to be named, said that there was nothing of the sort because Planning Commission was working on the project much earlier.
He referred to the Planning Commission working on sprucing up the civil services in the country for which meetings and seminars had been held in recent past wherein a set of recommendations were made for updating the whole civil services structure and government had already started implementing those recommendations for reformation in Civil Services mechanism.
Sources in the Planning Commission confirmed working on a plan to hold National Governance Forum in December with the aim to spruce up the governance of departments and ministries for the collective good of the people.
These sources said that experts on governance from both within and outside the country, intelligentsia, people from leading academic institutions and senior serving and retired bureaucrats would be invited to the forum, who would come up with recommendations and proposals for the solution of the problems facing the country and how to improve performance and delivery to the people in the given situation. Then these recommendations and proposals would be sent to various international institutions abroad to have their reflection on these proposals. And finally a report for bringing improvements in governance would be sent to prime minister for its final approval and implementation, the sources added.