KESC politics

Not long ago the political parties were shouting over the multibillion-rupee bleeding of the PSEs, calling for restructuring and rationalisation. And they were right for a change. However, the same parties, rather more, are now playing dirty politics over a decision which a privately run firm has taken for rationalisation of its resources.
What the sacked employees did to KESCs building and its staff could be termed barbaric, but a natural reaction in anger and shock. What has followed since, however, is nothing but the decade-old manoeuvring from the politicians. All parties from the ruling ones to the ones not known for their presence in Karachi have sent their delegations criticizing the KESCs decision.
"We expected a backlash but what has happened is even beyond our imagination, these are violence oriented people who are working against the interest of the employees, the company and the city", said Aamir Abbasi, KESCs spokesperson, speaking to BR Research in an audibly disappointing tone.
And the matter has not stayed in Karachi; the sacking has led the President to chair the highest level meeting including all the key ministers on how to deal with the issue. Why does the government feel it really needs to step up is another question though. The latest move, by the time this article is being written, has come from the revolutionary MQM, which has submitted an adjournment motion to the Senate against KESCs decision.
The KESC believes that in order to bring a change in the system it needs to bring in drastic changes, of which the sacking of employees was one such step. You could pinpoint the companys weaknesses on other fronts as there are other avenues which need more attention but there is no way a decision made by a private company to rationalise its human resources should be politically and violently challenged.
However, KESC should have thought about repercussions of sacking all the employees at once knowing the ground realities of the city. If they had done it in a phased manner by keeping few employees with political affiliation in the organization the situation might not have been so grave. Some private sector players in textiles for example keep some political appointees of that area to keep sanity and smooth sailing.
In fact, a large part of KESCs failure has to do with governments own inefficiency especially from the public sector entities, which do not pay the electricity bills to the KESC, which forced the firm to take such an action. Ironically, besides corruption and every other thing, a major reason of PSEs inefficiency is overstaffing, which indirectly hurts the KESC.
The other vocal group in the ruling coalition is also partly responsible for the crisis that the citizens face as KESC has huge problems in politically sensitive areas and the strong political pressure is often cited as the major reason.
What comes out of the committee formed by the president is anybodys guess but if the KESC is forced to reverse its decision, it will be another dent in the already shaken private sectors confidence. Even if the KESC stays firm on its stance, this episode is certainly not sending good signals to the foreign investors - both existing and potential, as political intervention in such management issues will surely be a big hurdle in attracting foreign investment to Pakistan.