National agenda

Lesson number 1: After experimenting with all sorts of systems of governance over the past 65 years there is a growing consensus that the solutions to most of our problems have to be found from within a democratic setup.

Lesson number 2: Elections in 1970, 1977, 1985, 1988, 1990, 1993, 1997, 2002 and 2008 have established that our electoral system has completely failed to deliver.

Priority number 1: Re-engineering of the electoral system in order to make democracy accountable and responsive.

Priority number 2: Re-engineering of the economic system in order to safeguard the economic system from political overreach.

Elections in 1970, 1977, 1985, 1988, 1990, 1993, 1997, 2002 and 2008 have established – and entrenched – a political doctrine that rests on two pillars: dynastic politics and redistribution of the state resources by MNAs and MPAs to their dhara of voters. Elections in 1970, 1977, 1985, 1988, 1990, 1993, 1997, 2002 and 2008 have established – and entrenched – a two-party political system in which political power generates huge monetary pay-offs. Pakistani democracy is neither accountable nor responsive to the needs of either the state or the voters who dwell in it. To begin with, democracy is neither an object nor a fruit (that one can claim to have eaten). It is a dynamic process and democratic states all over the world are continuously becoming either more or less democratic.

Elections in 1970, 1977, 1985, 1988, 1990, 1993, 1997, 2002 and 2008 have all been based on the first-past-the-post, single winner voting system and have produced a ‘representational dictatorship’. We need to become more, not less, democratic by introducing a multiple-winner method; proportional, semi-proportional or majoritarian. The Philippines, for instance, is debating House Bill 6660 or an ‘Anti-Dynastic Act’.

Elections in 1970, 1977, 1985, 1988, 1990, 1993, 1997, 2002 and 2008 have established a patron-client relationship between candidates and voters. This relationship cycle must be broken by ending the disbursement of development funds through MNAs and MPAs – legislators are lawmakers not development intermediaries.


Next, re-engineering of the economic system. Governments should govern – and should not be in the goods producing sector of the economy. Don’t our political masters know that the so-called Public Sector Enterprises are taking Pakistan towards state failure? Surely they do, but Rs100 crore a day, every day of the year, is a lot of money.

Ideally, PIA, Pakistan Steel, Pepco, Utility Stores Corporation and all the other so-called ‘enterprises’ should be privatised. And while these ‘enterprises’ await privatisation they should be taken out of executive as well as bureaucratic control and placed under parliamentary supervision with accountable, professional managements in place.

Elections in 1970, 1977, 1985, 1988, 1990, 1993, 1997, 2002 and 2008 have established that every political institution in the country has been consciously programmed to benefit the rulers – and their families – not the ruled. Elections in 1970, 1977, 1985, 1988, 1990, 1993, 1997, 2002 and 2008 have established that ‘enterprises’ are programmed to extract resources from the state to benefit the rulers – and their families. This cycle must be broken.

A two-point national agenda: electoral reforms and economic re-engineering. None of this has anything to do with derailing democracy and everything to do with making democracy work – work for the 180 million rather than just for the 1,100 members of the national and provincial assemblies. Who would object to that?