As the neighbor’s help threw a bucket of garbage water out of the window, it added to the misery amidst the chaos of living in a community that happens sometimes. The admin, when requested, simply looked away and ignored my request to stop it. Not a single person dared to do anything about it as the household was well connected and the Admin was there because they just needed to look like they did something constructive. After all I was the lesser connected house so we had to deal with dirty water being thrown randomly at all points onto the lot and mostly try to live by avoiding and ignoring it. And as we stood avoiding mucky water falling upon us and clogged gutters one thought of the greater perspective, of things that are taking place in our country. The glaring fact that people who do have the power and the responsibility to do something for laws to abide by are actually the ones who destroy the eco-system that surrounds us. This is not some beat-up colony or encroachment without any supervision where the uneducated are expected to do something like this. Just as this would and could happen in any municipality, the rot that has infested us for years has taken place in all tiers of our society. I was reminded suddenly of why people are protesting about the drainage during the torrential rains this year and who could they blame for this. The rot of bad administration that has seeped into the governance of this country for decades would be very difficult to remove. It would not be one party that would need to do a transparency check on its employees. “Administration” and governance all over the nation will need that overhaul.
Buildings, communities, municipalities, Cantonment boards, housing societies, even places of employment and educational systems; any place that has a group of people living or working in a system are run by an administrative authority. A board of good governance is vital over a group of people to streamline the processes of functionality of services provided within that system. No administration will ever work with efficiency without any type of accountability. Accountability not just in financial terms of an audit check but also to maintain the equilibrium of things ethically. An unspoken communal agreement that the life being lived or the project being done with services provided is something for the betterment of the group of people in entirety. Of course, in a bigger, much wider perspective, would be a national government and its governance over the people of the nation. It is in all stages and tiers throughout the world that governance is one of the most difficult jobs. The responsibility for a group of people connected by the fact they are in that locality is immense. And as it is an immense job with such obligations, then the people must be appointed very carefully.
So when people are asked to step down or resign from a post because of a catastrophic event, it is laughable. Laughable only because the more inefficient they are and keep remaining so, it becomes painfully obvious how well connected they are or secure in their positions. It is blatantly apparent that they were simply given the position because they knew somebody by means of a connection. A group of people who support each other in bad governance would only be connected by vested interests. Although we agree how prevalent it is here and this is a national problem, it does occur globally as well.
In an article I had mentioned the words ‘taking the garbage out of governance’. I would say it again, can the “sewerage” of corrupt, inefficient or just apathetic admins that have soaked through all tiers of our country be effectively cleaned out? One cannot keep on blaming the past governments because this is a problem that is there all over and still exists even in private entities, but yes, even the previous ones have to do the cleaning up thoroughly. The solution to this would be to go full force at length at the mafias which have built their own network so deep it seems impossible to weed them out. And better still, instead of removing them which would only make way for others to come in and do the same things again do the due diligence. Create the responsibility with a transparency of not just accounts but of their job descriptions. Accountability of actions taken or not taken will produce results.
Without meaning any disrespect to DHA or CBC or any place that runs the administration of the well-being of the community in our country this must be done on all fronts. In addition, the army is not to be blamed. The attempts to malign them were unnecessary; they were the ones who came to rescue hundreds and thousands during the urban flooding. However, the system and the overhaul of the communities‘ authorities who are running the housing societies as well as each locality in question can be obtained. This is not a witch hunt but to streamline things for the future. They are well established and respectable institutions which have done incredible work. The communities are still the top tier areas to reside in and are still the most coveted places as far as real estate is concerned, but somebody somewhere will need to ascertain why the projects that were or seemed to be made from drainage systems to sewerage to garbage cleaning are today the ones that seem almost non-existent.
There was an apparent problem and Karachi faced it. It would be foolhardy not to address the issues at hand. Perhaps a closer look at “draining out” the system in itself and actually looking at the position placements and the amendments where there can be changes that force people to implement policies and the continuation of work. The torrential rains that almost destroyed Karachi can only be blamed to a certain extent, even though the rains were recorded as the highest since the past 89 years. This was an unforeseeable natural event. But rains have come before and every year we get the same outlook of no change in any structure of things that go on repeating themselves. One part of the system blames the other, yet not one works together on anything to solve the problem.
Connections (friendships with those in power), links and jobs created by “Sifarish” or just improper placement of personnel have eaten away at the eco-system of Pakistan. Agreed there is ample room for recommendations which is a completely different matter. But the recommendation must be based on merit and goal achievements. Get the right people for the right jobs. Get the garbage out of governance and we will prosper as a nation.
