Daily Times

Governments in the developing world cannot find a way to progress unless there is public ownership of processes of change. Empowerment could not be sustainable without participatory debates within the common folk regarding the government’s initiatives. The problem with countries like Pakistan is that the governing elite considers itself as the custodians of good. They don’t believe in the genius of the people to understand and evaluate public good and decide on their own needs. This is a post colonial fallacy, directly inherited by the bureaucracy, both civil and military, from colonial era. As loyalty to the colonial mindset and utter disrespect for the public opinion are considered the two salient features of the post Independence ruling structure, it becomes extremely difficult to bring home the modern ideas of governance to a psyche that considers power sharing as losing power.

There is one solution to this. The understanding that empowerment of people is not an option – it is an obligation. There are ‘name, blame, and shame’ organizations, both local and international, putting pressure on the government through direct national and international campaigning, as well as using media. The government understands the changing realities of time. The problem in the face of this realization under pressure is that the government is looking for options to support this decentralization drive. This brings newer players into the game, namely the NGOs and INGOs. These are organizations with technical expertise and financial capacity to support capacity building and awareness campaigns regarding RTI, participatory development, and other governance support issues, including bridging the gap between the government and the people.

Now the problem with blindly following the development sector and non-governmental sector is that they all have limited agendas. For example, they would like to work in areas of extreme crises, but would refuse to support any effort within the state of normalcy. Or they would have partial priorities like missing persons, women rights, and other such issues that might be difficult for the government to handle. In fact, there is nothing wrong with the themes and the locations prioritized by the NGOs and INGOs. The problem is their partiality and piecemeal approach. There is also a huge issue with this support because more often it has the very opposite effect than the one intended in the first place. The whole process adds to the trust deficit of the government. The support organizations and the people working with them take the government as evil, and idle. Every now and then, they show their disrespect towards the governing structure. There is , no harm in having a critical approach, since empowerment is only possible through an open debate. But going all out against the government makes it impossible to bring anything good out of the whole process.

The government needs to become a proactive agent of change. It shouldn’t be standing idle, giving donors a field day to do whatever they plan on their own

However, there is a solution. The realization within the government about democratization through empowerment that comes out of transfer of knowledge, and supporting participatory decision making among the people is a welcome development. The government needs to become a proactive agent of change. It shouldn’t be standing idle, giving the donors a field day to do whatever they plan on their own. Here again, a word of caution about micromanaging and hindering international support. This practice is not proactive, but reactive and regressive. The government has strong information and public relations structures in all provinces and at the federal level. These notorious structures can still be revived. These need a new lease of life. Deciding new roles to them is the job. The debate on PIOs being not effective in supporting RTI is useless, since the PIOs don’t have a permanent, defined role in the organizational structure. They are just an ad on. But the role of public relations officers has become a permanent feature of organizational structure in the country. These roles need to be redefined and made public oriented instead of the present boss and media oriented. This change of roles will also affect the very working of the bureaucratic machinery. Civil servants could also make use of the information, both localized and general, in their public appearances, bridging gaps with their problem solving and more empathizing role.

The moral of the whole debate is simple. The governing structure has to recognize the importance of a more responsible and public focused role; of getting rid of the post-colonial paranoia. And above all it is a choice between either becoming the source of information and knowledge transfer or that of an increasingly alienated ruling elite, held responsible for their acts of omission and commission. No sane structure would like to be an alien in its own house.

The writer holds a PhD from the institute of KMW, University of Leipzig,Germany. He has had a long career as a working journalist and trainer. Currently, he is professor of Journalism at the University of Peshawar. He can be reached at altaafkhan@gmail.com

Published in Daily Times, September 16^th 2017.