Daily Times

Age is just a number. Agreed. But then why is there a retirement age; why a science behind ageing; why medical and physical tests to qualify for certain professions. The answer may be true for certain professions, however, the profession of politics or the profession of heading state institutions are exempted from this pre-qualification. The justification may be that these jobs require a depth of experience and competence, which is not easily available in younger and serving individuals. This justification definitely holds true in many cases but is not indisputable. What is indisputable is that the right person for the right job, especially at the top, is the only guarantee for the achievement of goals. The description of what is “right” and how to ensure it is what needs to be clarified, understood and implemented relentlessly.

Appointments are based on certain criteria. These criteria define age, experience and skills among other things. However, in public sector organisations, and government controlled posts and postings, these criteria are rarely adhered to and there are numerous cases of loyalists being appointed regardless of the job description and job fit. The promises of merit are often made and broken. In a recent meeting of Law and Justice committee, serious violations of appointments in NAB, which itself is supposed to tackle illegal actions, were brought to light. PPP’s parliamentary leader in the Senate, Saeed Ghani, a member of the committee who had actually raised the matter in the Senat, said that no officer could be given “acting or current charge” for more than a period of three months in accordance with the rules. He said that an extension to any officer for more than three months could only be given after an approval by the prime minister. Mr Ghani alleged that there were a number of officers working in NAB on “acting or current charges” for more than a year, which was a clear violation of the rules. He said that these officers were reappointed on the same position for another 90 days after a gap of two or three days.

Another key organisation, NADRA, is often in the news over its illegal appointments. Almost 250 key posts were found to be filled in violation of the rules. Federal Interior Minister, Chaudhry Nisar Ali Khan, recently ordered a purge of “black sheep”, only after a serious breach of security had occurred when Mullah Mansoor was killed while carrying a Pakistani ID card in a drone attack. He complained about foreigners being employed in NADRA on the “say” of MNAs. However, reports also claim that he had appointed Kamal Aziz, 63, the brother of Prime Minister’s Adviser on Foreign Affairs, Sartaj Aziz, on a contract for three years on a key post in a total disregard for rules and regulations. According to sources, Nisar had also appointed a 65-year-old man, Naveed H. Malik, in a violation of the NADRA Ordinance. Moreover, on the recommendations of National Assembly Speake, Sardar Ayaz Sadiq, Samad Khurram was appointed, despite being a graduate, as in charge of the voters’ verification cell in NADRA. As a result, in a recent audit, more than 30,000 fake IDs were caught, which is a rampant license for terrorists and sundry to infiltrate the country.

When Federal Law Minister, Zahid Hamid, was questioned before a Senate committee regarding a number of officers in the NAB, who had been appointed on “acting or current charges” in higher grades in a violation of rules, the minister, matter-of-factly, told the Senate Standing Committee on Law and Justice that the “malpractice” of appointing officers on “acting or current charges” for a period of more than three months has been continuing in not only the NAB but also in other departments and ministries for several years. If this was not shocking enough, he also disclosed that his ministry had sent a summary to the prime minister, asking him to give “ex-post facto” approval of the postings that had already been made in the NAB. Imagine this solution. Let the prime minister make these illegal appointments legal by making them permanent.

With the opposition parties and media bringing these violations to public notice, the government has now developed a solution to appoint people within rules while serving their personal objectives. Merit is usually made on two pillars; character and competence. Character includes integrity and trustworthiness, and competence includes experience, skill and ability. It is a combination of these two that ensures the selection of the right person. With so much criticism on merit violations, the government decided to select people who were of high integrity and experience. However, they were too old to have the energy or even agility to take on matters that required acute and constant struggle. One of the biggest examples of this was the appointment of Fakhruddin G Ibrahim as the Chief Election Commissioner at the age of 84 years. He was a man of character and experience and thus nobody could fault his appointment. However, as was discovered in the 2013 Elections, he was unable to handle the assignment due to his age and ill health. He admitted that things were out of his control on the election day. This age and health incapacity resulted in all 22 political parties terming these elections as the worst in the history of rigged elections in Pakistan.

This trend of appointing people who are beyond reproach but unfit on physical basis has become the grand escape from legal and media retaliation. After the resignation of Ibrahim and a further delay of one year, the government then chose Rana Bhagwandas as the candidate. However, he excused himself from this responsibility on health basis and unfortunately later passed away later. The two recent appointments are also in line with this approach. Justice Amir Raza is appointed as the head of the NewsLeak commission while Justice Saeed uz Zaman, the governor of Sindh. Justice Raza is not in his prime, either age-wise or health-wise. Justice Zaman could hardly stand during his own oath-taking ceremony and soon had to be admitted to the ICU for critical health issues. This is the new form of organisational corruption. Instead of making a blatant appointment of a tainted man, appoint an untainted man, who is too old and unfit to know how to assert himself or has the — physical and mental — capacity to take a stand on any deviation. This organised exploitation is a serious mockery of not only rules but also human dignity where men of stature are reduced to zombies to dictate terms. Old may be gold but gold diggers will always have the last say.

The writer is a columnist and analyst and can be reached at andleeb.abbas1@gmail.com