The Problem and the Solution- II
By Dr. I. Kamal
CA
2. A Tripartite System of Government
In a sad but true commentary on the state of affairs in Pakistan, an external agency has stated that "most Pakistani political groups are motivated primarily by opportunism and political alliances can shift frequently."
As Imran Khan had pointed out some time back, politics in Pakistan has become a business of "staking and making money". In order to remove this stigma, there is a dire need to remove the "lucrativeness" out of political office in Pakistan. And the only way in which the lucrativeness can be removed is by taking away the "prize", by separating the executive branch of government from the legislature.
The parliamentary system of government is one of the worst legacies of British rule in the sub-continent. It works in Britain because it has been sharpened and perfected by centuries of trial and error, a luxury that Pakistan cannot afford. The system just doesn't seem to work in Pakistan. In the villages, where the bulk of the country's population resides, it has served only to legitimize feudalism, a system which belongs to the Middle Ages and is the root cause of all evil in Pakistan. It was because of the parliamentary system, which has become a system of 'daadas' (mini godfathers) ruling the country, that honest and able leaders have not been able to come into power: Air Marshall Asghar Khan in the past and, currently, Imran Khan.
The legislators of Pakistan (MNAs and MPs) have been rightly accused of doing "everything but legislate". Obviously, they have no time to legislate when there is more attraction in becoming ministers and advisers, and being pampered by the leader of the house in order to retain their loyalty. The late Sardar Ataullah Mengal, one of Pakistan's few honest and patriotic politicians in the past, had described the state of affairs in Baluchistan in the following words: "The former Chief Minister of Baluchistan Zulfiqar Ali Magsi had only one seat for his own party, but he remained Chief Ministers for three years by giving ministries to all his coalition partners. People have been spoilt. In the current assembly, every MPA says that 'the awaam have given me a mandate to be a minister. In the previous government all members of the coalition were ministers. What's the problem with you? Why do you say that everyone will not be made a minister?' They want to be ministers not to serve the people but to eat, drink and be merry".
Things are still pretty much the same not only in Baluchistan, but in all the other provinces and at the center: there is an abundance of ministers, advisers and what-nots, milking the poor cow (the country) dry.
India and Bangladesh, two other countries which have parliamentary democracies on the British pattern, do not lag far behind Pakistan in corruption. India's relative success is due to honest and sincere leadership during its formative years, the abolition of the feudal system on day one of its independence, and the exclusion of the military and 'agencies' from power politics. Its progress has been achieved in spite of, and not because of, the parliamentary system of government. However, corruption is rampant in India: in most cases bribes are required to get a job, to get admission in schools and colleges or any other task - you name it.
It must be admitted that no system of government can be successful unless there is a desire to fulfill the spirit as well as the letter of the constitution. However, the constitution should provide safeguards such that the spirit of democracy cannot be broken, and power cannot be abused. In Pakistan, a constitution similar to the US constitution is required, with a system of checks and balances provided by separate and autonomous legislative, judicial and executive arms of the government and a working president elected with the whole country as his or her constituency.
A country with limited resources cannot afford the luxury of figurehead presidents and figurehead governors. The parliamentary system of government which was imposed in the sub-continent because it was the only system taught by the former British rulers, has made the country an on-going political battle-ground with a never-ending election campaign. The ruling party lives in constant dread of losing its majority, and resorts to all means fair and foul to hold on to power. Ministries are given out as bounties and the price for loyalty rather than as administrative necessities.
Under a tripartite system of government, the country's president and the elected governors of the provinces will be able to choose their cabinets from technocrats, social workers and people of learning who have no time for politicking. The country can hardly expect to succeed unless it puts its first eleven to bat, chosen not on the basis of kinship or affiliation but on sheer merit. With ministers chosen from competent experts in the related fields and not from the legislators, there will be no incentive for the party in power to increase the ministers and advisers to ridiculously high numbers which adds to the burden on the country's economy.
The role of the legislators is to serve as a permanent accountability commission (similar to the US Senate and Congress) and as watchdogs providing surveillance over all the actions of the executive branch: important appointments, budget, domestic and foreign policy, and so on. Such a system would provide stability, with elections on fixed dates, not determined by no-confidence motions and 'lotas'.
Democracy needs to be protected on all fronts. The president of the country should not have the power to nominate governors and dissolve legislatures, the governors should not have the power to dissolve provincial legislatures, and provincial legislatures should not have the power to dissolve local bodies. And nobody should have the power to tamper with constitutional provisions for human rights under any pretext whatsoever. The guarantor should be the judiciary, which should remain inviolable as the top-most echelon of power.
The achievement of these ends, which will make the task of governance easier, would require a system change, because a permanent solution to the country's
ills can only be found through major surgery. This may be our last chance. The admonishment of Allama Iqbal to the people of the subcontinent applies equally to the leaders and people of Pakistan today:
Na samjho gey to mit jao gey ay Hindostan walo
Tumhari daastaan tak bhi na ho gee daastanon main
(If you fail to understand, you will perish, O people of Hindostan,
Even your history will be insignificant in the history of time.)
( Part I of this article was published in the Pakistan Link dated May 6, 2011)
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