Daily Times

Prime Minister Imran Khan on Friday took notice of huge payments made by the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) government to the US lobbying firms.

The previous government of former prime minister Nawaz Sharif had hired the services of US lobbying firms such as Cambridge Analytica and Roberti Global for lobbying in the United States. The firms lobbied for the then government and carried out a number of surveys which depicted the performance and popularity of the PML-N government above than the rival political parties. Prime Minister Imran Khan has directed the authorities concerned to submit record of the amounts paid to the US firms. He also decided to conduct an audit of the expenses incurred over Pakistan’s cases abroad during the PML-N’s tenure. The officials have also been told to provide details of the payments and the list of the lawyers who pleaded cases for Pakistan in the previous government’s tenure.

Meanwhile, the PM Office on Friday directed all the federal secretaries and chief secretaries of Punjab and Khyber Pakthunkhwa to issue instructions to all of their subordinate organizations/offices to reopen/revisit all public complaints lodged through the Pakistan Citizens’ Portal (PCP).

The direction was issued in view of the negligence on the part of officers in genuine resolution of public complaints and after the notice taken by Prime Minister Imran Khan in this respect.

According to a letter written by the PM Office, the top officers of federal and provincial governments have been asked to issue instructions to all relevant organizations and officers connected with the PCP to properly process the public complaints as per relevant rules and regulations. For any inconvenience caused or inability to grant a relief due to the citizen should be given an apology, if appropriate, the letter said.

The letter was written after Prime Minister Imran Khan taking notice of the public criticism on social media regarding resolved status of complaints directed the PM Delivery Unit for an extensive performance evaluation report which, according to the letter, was in progress.

The initial findings of the review have revealed that the complaints already resolved are devoid of courtesy, gratitude, guidance and official way of communication. “Lacking logical response with supporting paper/evidence as to why a certain relief could not be granted (where required). Lacking evidence/proof in case a complaint has either been resolved or assigned to any office for further action. Soliciting information from the citizen without consulting his/her profile (unhidden). Not sharing office contact details for convenience of the complainants while soliciting the requisite information. Resolution of complaints in haste without proper processing just to show positive progress. Marking a complaint as resolved while it related to some other organization,” these were some of the other observations made during the review.

The letter mentioned that a comprehensive user’s manual for complaints and suggestions handling had already been circulated and all the above mentioned points were in violation of the same.

Furthermore, the letter said, the quality of resolution reflected that the whole system had been left in the hands of lower subordinates with no supervision. “The situation is alarming thus calls for immediate intervention at your end,” the letter addressed to top federal and provincial bureaucrats stressed.

Published in Daily Times, January 19^th 2019.