Change - the undeniable imperative

On January 19, at the ground-breaking ceremony of the controversial new parliamentarians' lodges in Islamabad (estimated cost Rs 3 billion), the Prime Minister said his government faces 'economic', not political challenges i.e. his government won't collapse even if the economy does. (Hasn't it collapsed yet?)
He is right; politicians, including those in the PML-N's friendly opposition, can't afford to be out of power; a fate like Tunisia's Ali Baba and his 'you know who' awaits them. How power-hungry are they, is proved by the fact that they threaten to split the coalition if the much demanded cut in the federal cabinet is implemented.
That's why, in spite of admitting that his regime faces economic challenges - ballooning resource deficits of every variety - the Prime Minister had to launch the hugely expensive and wholly unnecessary parliamentarians' lodges about which commentators also allege favouritism in award of the tender.
But promising that an underground tunnel will connect the lodges to the parliament so that legislators aren't 'exposed' to angry masses while going to the parliament, amounted to accepting the regime's failure in stemming the country's economic collapse - the real threat that the Prime Minister denies.
The same day, addressing an Arab summit in Egypt, Arab League's Secretary General admitted that "the Arab soul is broken by poverty, unemployment, and general recession", and failure to fix these problems had "driven the Arab citizen to a state of unprecedented anger and frustration" - a reference to Tunisia (and Pakistan?)
The next day, over 4,300 laid-off employees stormed the KESC's head office but police on the scene coolly watched as the crowd ransacked the office. In contrast thereto, the Federal and Sindh Home Ministers disowned the recent operation by the Rangers to arrest gunrunning mafias. Some signs of the regime's writ!
The coalition lost its credibility, courtesy the suspect educational certificates of its members; appointing individuals lacking requisite credentials (latest case being Sindh Police), or those having criminal records, to key positions in state offices and enterprises, and their not being dismissed despite court verdicts, made it worse.
A total administrative collapse in this setting was inevitable, more so, in an economic recession; denying the political profile of this challenge is a lie. Blatant nepotism caused this chaos and the challenge the regime faces is political. A Prime Minister, whose government nearly collapsed on this charge, should know that.
In the case about 'missing Nato containers' (causing a minimum revenue loss of Rs 37 billion), the Supreme Court asked the sitting FBR Chairman to submit a list of Secretaries of the ministries of Trade and Finance, the FBR Chairmen, Member, Customs, DGs of Customs Intelligence and the National Logistics Cell, and Collectors of Customs holding office between January 2007 and December 2010.
Afghan Transit Trade (ATT) is just one cause of corruption, and the suspects' list implies virtually everyone from top to bottom being involved therein. The fact that the court decided to question all of them based on the findings of the Federal Tax Ombudsman (FTO) reflects on the quality of governance in Pakistan.
According to the FTO, key customs check-posts to monitor ATT via Baburloi, Khairabad, Khur Khera and Baleli are ineffective. Another four at Baburloi, Khairabad, Khur Khera and Baleli lack requisite resources and technology. Besides, they don't check ISAF cargo thousands of whose containers are off-loaded in Pakistan.
The key finding is that higher import tariffs in Pakistan fuels excessive smuggling into Pakistan under ATT because, while Afghan per capita income is a third of Pakistan's, Afghan per capita import is 72 percent higher than Pakistan's - a distortion that went on unabated despite repeatedly being pointed out by market observers.
Cutting import tariffs is on the cards while the remedy lies in strict accountability for tariff collection, and insisting on Afghan imports being cut to their justifiable level. Lower import tariffs would spur consumption, reduce tariff collection, and discourage expansion of the import-substitution sector, but all these seem likely.
Yet, the IMF plans to again push for imposing the dreaded RSGT. Either the IMF knows more about Pakistan than we do, or has opted to side with the corrupt. What needs eradication is corruption and waste (e.g. size of the federal and provincial cabinets). Levying regressive and impractical taxation measures simply won't deliver.
The opposition parties are a part of this corruption. Of the 45-day deadline that the PML-N has given to the government to fix the pervasive administrative mess, a quarter will be over without any concrete action by the time you read these lines, reinforcing the view that this make-believe remedial initiative is a deception.
The vested interests, nurtured by political parties will prevent taking any transparent remedial action. Glib-talking politicians will keep calling for retrieval of the national wealth invested abroad, and for recovering illegally written-off bank loans only on TV channels; they won't do anything practical to achieve these ends.
Corruption alone isn't killing the Public Sector Enterprises (PSEs); over-staffing - PPP's destructive remedy - is the other cause. Placing KESC at the mercy of its laid-off workers foretells the direction PSE re-structuring will take. Doling out cash (via BISP) instead of creating jobs by expanding PSE operations through cost cutting, higher efficiency and productivity, reflects a mindset that can't restructure PSEs.
In this backdrop of how Pakistan treats foreign investors, the Privatisation Commission plans to launch convertible bonds for $1.08bn by March-end and for another $304mn by December 2011. Given Pakistan's high country and sovereign risks, the bonds would sell only at huge discounts making their cost phenomenal.
The rational option - recovering squandered state funds - which will hurt the vested interests isn't a priority reflecting on how the state overlooks its responsibilities. The proposal to privatise Pakistan Post and SME Bank Ltd. reflects the same because these entities, that serve the ordinary, must not be placed under profit-driven ownership. That's how the regime kills the credibility of even its saner initiatives.
Our politicians specialize in denying realities. When questioned about corruption, instead of admitting guilt, they justify it citing corruption by the previous regimes; given their recent record of 'achievements', the only choice for politicians is to quit rather than force the people to go for the Tunisian option.