An open government would always admit its faults instead of defending them. Prime Minister Imran Khan has shown political grace by admitting his government’s disappointing performance on price control, especially of sugar and wheat flour, in recent days. This is, however, not the first time the prime minister has admitted the government’s slackness on price control. He is on record as having said that he knows several mafias are involved in sugar and wheat price scams. This is the time the government sprang into action and made those mafias, who the prime minister is personally aware of, face the full force of the law. It seems things are far from concluded as the prime minister said that he had ordered an investigation into the price hike of the two commodities and that data on profiteers was being collected. But it is not only sugar and wheat flour price that has broken the back of the public. What about pulses, oil/edible ghee and other food items? The government has perhaps forgotten its promise of bringing down the prices of life-saving drugs. Exactly, last year the Drug Regulatory Authority of Pakistan increased the prices of medicines, with the approval of the federal government, by 15 per cent. The life-threatening measure cost a minister his job as the prime minister was perturbed over the price hike. It’s another thing of course that the ministry was just taken over by another face and then it was business as usual. The government has been in office for 18 months now, enough time to take stock of the situation and put things in order. On the contrary, every other day we hear from government functionaries about the revolutionary systems being manufactured to fix the 70-year-old garbage left to them. Now, we hear that the government is introducing systems that would promptly alert it of any essential commodity’s shortage, allowing appropriate measures in a timely manner. Such statements, devoid of actions, are fast becoming shallow announcements leaving no impact on the public. The public needs actions and results: price cut, jobs and business opportunities and political and economic stability. The time is over to blame the right or wrong policies of the previous governments for the recent increase in prices of foodstuff and essential commodities. No doubt, the government has taken measures to reform the economy, cut imports and increased exports besides plugging trade deficit but the commoner needs immediate relief instead of waiting for trickle down effects of economic turnaround. *