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Many of the best and brightest in the countrys civil service are opting out of the system to pursue careers in the development sector and other private sector firms; others are leaving the country to pursue the better life abroad.
What has brought about this precipitous decline in the prospects for civil servants, especially those in grades 18 to 20? According to a retired Chief Secretary, Punjab the remuneration offered to the abus is a big factor. He highlighted that the salary earned by a Grade 17 officer about 35 years back, would equate about Rs250,000 per month if it had kept pace with the price of gold. "Today, the salary offered is a small fraction of this amount." he said, adding that salaries in the private sector have grown significantly over the same period.
This also partially explains moving of a top notch DMG officer on the payroll of a donor agency or a multinational bank. This hurts the bureaucracy even more if the departing official has been educated at one of the worlds best universities on state expenses.
In fact, younger civil servants have by now, become immersed in the culture of securing Masters and Doctorate degrees from globally recognized institutions at the Governments expense, only to settle abroad or take up a private sector job.
The few patriots, who are inclined to stay in the service and serve the nation, contend with parasitic political appointees and cronies of other elites. A case in point is the appointment of trade officers in Pakistans diplomatic missions abroad.
At the time of dwindling foreign investments and a paradigm shift in trade relations, these appointments should have been made on transparent and competitive terms. After all, these individuals are the face of Pakistan to the world.
Unfortunately, the process used for filling these posts lacked credibility and was fraught with conflict of interest. The selection mechanism comprised a test conducted by the Lahore University of Management Sciences followed by an interview. The test marks were given a miniscule wieghtage of 20 percent, while each candidates performance in the interview received four-fifths of the weight. To make matters worse, the passing marks in the test were set down at just 40 percent.
The interviews were all scheduled for the same day. As a result, those lucky enough to get an audience with the interviewers were only kept in the room for seven to eight minutes. Others who were not so lucky returned home that day without being interviewed at all. Three weeks on, they are still awaiting a call for the interview.
The shenanigans do not end here. The test results were not made public, not even to the candidates themselves. And one of the administrators is among the candidates vying for the new positions. Talk about conflict of interest.
The series of incidents described above are not exceptional. The current Chairman of the Securities and Exchange Commission of Pakistan has deep-rooted ties with capital markets as does the Managing Director of the Karachi Stock Exchange. The Competition Commission of Pakistan (CCP) is looking to fill two vacancies among its members, but few will ever know about these opportunities since the positions have not been advertised. The quality of professionals hired by the CCP may well be quite admirable, but questions marks hang all over the hiring process.
Even the hitherto echelons of power in the civil bureaucracy have now become political fiefdoms. The average turnover time of a Federal Secretary is down to just seven months. Even the coveted chair of the Governor of the State Bank of Pakistan has become more of a revolving door, with three head honchos coming in and heading out, in as many years.
Arbitrary appointment of civil servants, even heads of regulators and public sector entities is corroding the credibility and performance of the civil bureaucracy. Swift changes at the helms of key national institutions have inflicted institutional memory with an acute case of attention deficit disorder. It is little wonder then that those charged with the responsibility of conceptualizing and implementing long-term national strategy are barely able to keep up with daily firefighting.

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