When daily life in Karachi is not being debilitated by violence, it is brought to a standstill by the ineptness of the Karachi Electric Supply Company (KESC). Anti-KESC strikes by disgruntled employees and different trade and political bodies have broken out. A wheel-jam strike suspended almost all activity and business in the country’s commercial hub. Brazen mismanagement, long power outages, false billing and gross neglect have left the citizens and some 4,000 plus employees frustrated enough to bring the whole city to a halt via protests and dharnas (sit-ins). The protests have been accompanied by miscreants torching property and transport vehicles, and other violent acts. Incidentally, these 4,000 plus employees are the same who were being forcibly retired in January this year but had to be reinstated after intervention by the government. Now the KESC is trying to, once again, lay them off. Not only is the KESC proving to be a mismanaged body, it is flaunting its anti-employee nature. While the protests were loud and clear, the KESC had its own tale to tell. It blames the KESC Labour Union for the organisation’s failures. Workers’ unions exist to better the working conditions of employees and if the KESC Labour Union has initiated a strike, it betrays the KESC management’s mishandling of industrial relations. In such a scenario, where the KESC and its employees are at loggerheads and the citizens, political and traders’ organisations are voicing their anger at the electric supply company, the government needs to intervene in a way that is more effective than merely reinstating ousted employees. A mediator or a forum needs to be appointed to resolve KESC’s conundrum. The Sindh government may need to take the initiative by making this special body since, after the 18th Amendment and the process of devolution, it may be that such labour mediation laws and mechanisms are not yet adequately in place at the provincial level. It is no secret that the KESC has not being doing such a great job since it was privatised some years ago. It has undergone no development or upgrading of infrastructure, a condition of the sale of the company, and has failed to address myriad complaints of over-billing. KESC’s privatisation is clearly not working. It is worth considering whether a reversal and bringing the KESC back into the public sector fold may not be in the best interests of the utility, its employees, and most of all its customers. *