Government departments are not recruitment factories, says CM Bugti

QUETTA: Chief Minister of Balochistan Mir Sarfraz Bugti has said that restructuring and reform of all government departments are essential to make governance effective, use public resources better and ensure quality services for the people. He said the government would take firm steps to stop needless increases in government spending and to bring the administrative structure in line with public needs.

He said this on Wednesday at a review meeting of the Secretaries Committee. Performance reports of several departments were presented at the meeting. The administrative structure, workforce, non-development expenditure and delivery of public services of government departments were reviewed. Earlier, Chief Secretary Balochistan Shakeel Qadir Khan presented a review report on various departments.

Every penny of people’s taxes is a national trust

The Chief Minister expressed concern over needless recruitment in various departments and the rise in non-development expenditure. He said every penny of the resources raised from the people’s taxes was a national trust and that wasting them could not be tolerated under any circumstances. He said these resources belonged to the ordinary poor Balochistani who shivers in the cold and burns in the heat, and that the main purpose of spending by government departments was to give the people better facilities.

He said a large part of the province’s available resources was being consumed by non-development expenditure, yet the people were not being given services of the required standard. Instead of turning government departments into recruitment factories, they had to be turned into institutions that discharge their responsibilities effectively. He said the government’s duty was to create jobs according to demand, in line with the needs of different sectors and the market, and not to add to the financial burden through needless and excessive recruitment in government departments.

Mir Sarfraz Bugti said departments buried under the growing burden of non-development expenditure were unable to give due attention to public service delivery, which he called a sad state of affairs. He made it clear that to improve the performance of government departments, administrative reforms, effective distribution of resources and a stronger system of accountability were needed.

"The ruin of the system is the work of our own people"

Speaking on governance problems, the Chief Minister said that instead of blaming others for administrative weaknesses and poor governance in the province, we must examine our own failings. He said the administrative system had not been ruined by some Punjabi who came from Lahore, but by our own people. Instead of blaming anyone else, we should focus on our own system and responsibilities, and serious steps were needed to identify and remedy internal weaknesses in order to improve governance in Balochistan.

He said that for the betterment of Balochistan and to give the people better facilities, tough but right decisions would have to be taken. Difficult decisions would not be avoided in the reform process, because proper use of the province’s resources and better performance of government institutions were an important need of the time.

The Chief Minister directed the secretaries of all departments to carry out a comprehensive review of the administrative structure, workforce, expenditure and performance of their departments and to draw up workable recommendations on reform. He also sought proposals on the possible merger of departments performing similar functions and on reducing surplus staff, so that available resources could be used better and the quality of public services raised.

He expressed the resolve that, through reforms, practical progress would be made to improve the capacity of government departments, bring discipline to spending and make the public interest the centre of government actions.

Photo: courtesy DGPR Balochistan