Leadership concerns

We have had motley of leaders and in order to determine the leadership kind that fits us most adroitly I turned to the wisdom of the East and the pragmatism of the West. Since we had taken on the governance that is mostly Western democratic I turned to Toynbee. Some of them came through a consensus, or almost consensus others came in by force and some merely on the basis of power that they wielded as armed forces chief. It's been 64 years but we have still to address a number of political issues. I am not interested in global issues but in local issues.
Does one need a charismatic leader and Shaheed ZAB was certainly one just as Mujib in former East Pakistan was another one. I had heard them speak and both could sway the crowds. But ultimately it has to do with governance. Swaying of crowds momentarily is one element but can we have a Chou or a Mao in present-day leadership. The answer is no, for lesser minds that play the role of anchor persons in the media, have made sure that no one should go unscathed. Can we have Pakistani leader that can sway the pluralistic society that we have become? The answer again is no. The credibility of our leaders has time and again been questioned rightly or wrongly on the electronic media as well as in the print media. Why is this allowed to go on by the government or the state? Yes, blow the whistle if something is not along the right lines. If aberrations are found and if criminal neglect is found. Recently a minister in Tajikistan was fired for bad parenting. The sin of the son of the minister was that he had a car accident. The accountability was bit stretched but there it is that is how serious the matter can be.
Is the democratic mechanism working? If it is the economics will work itself. If not we will have a lot of hiccups over the next years and this will continue till we put in place the right kind of governance. What then is the right kind of governance that is required to be put in place by the country's leaders - of all kinds? The top as well as the lesser kind - for leadership can be of the distributed kind. The credibility is lost and ultimately the feeling gets around that no one is bothering about the country and then a sizeable number of people take to the streets and then it becomes free for all just as it was in Lee Market and Chakiwara in Karachi, just as it is in the less populated areas of North and South Waziristan, just as it is in Balochistan and now the social system is going to be bad as political parties take their respective stance prior to the general election. Pakistan has been a roaring success in two aspects of public policy - in conflict enhancement and in unjust and injudicious actions of the governance system. Most of the litigants as rightly pointed out by the CJ are due to the unjust actions of the bureaucracy either on their own account or on account of the political minister. Free bees and free rides are common ground.
Now the unfortunate part is that some of them are also providing the range of carnal pleasures. As times get tough the unfortunate that want to live somehow will make a living somehow. The other route is suicide. Which will you have? A perverted societal start or one in which the chaste and the worthy take their own life? Some of the monster ministers have now become so bold that they have started taking houses in residential colonies where the going is easy and where they can have a pad for many things. It was on one of the late evenings when I was coming from Lahore that I found that there was route and road blockage. I enquired and the policemen had a smirk on their face. They would not answer, most unfortunate. On one occasion a Minister of Agriculture was caught in the car late at night with a lady of dubious means. I came to know of the incident as the person who stopped them was a friend of mine. He stated I let them go as they stated that they were from agriculture and because of me they were let off. Good gracious me. I have had four ministers from Sindh - two gentlemen and two scoundrels? You have a 25 percent chance of determining the name.
So what is the take on leadership? The ministers are all distributed leaders. If the top man is to survive it will be by the good intentions of these ministers. As I said that the feeling has to be right and not only the majority but the cent percent behaviour has to be above board more or less like Caesars. Here is what is going around in SMS world.
What does every minister get? This from an SMS.
1. Nearly 5000 units of free electricity. Free kundas on his land as well for no one in his right mind is going to challenge him - least of all the Wapda linesman. Who else gets free electricity? I tried to find out but I was unsuccessful. I know the electricity producers get electricity free and they then help in thieving more through illegal connections. The senior retired and tired officers get free electricity too - at least the uniformed ones do.
2. Forty five VIP air tickets. Free.
3. The mobile bill of Rs one lakh per month.
4. Free transport to the ministers, state ministers, and what about Parliamentary secretaries [I do not know].
5. Any amount from the development projects.
6. A house and a pad for pleasure for after all the work some carnal desires have also to be satisfied. Then the lament: 18 crore people 96 ministers. The estimated cost of each minister per year is Rs 16 crores and the total cost is 16x96 crores - you work it out for we never had any such multiplication to do while in school.
How can this lead to anything but chaos. What is the cost of standing committees for I found that one of them is on five or six of them and he has absolutely minted money for doing nothing but putting spanners in the works? This much about the way the cookie cooks. Now what about the personalities and the functional aspects for the country are in need of drastic social and political changes. Will it be possible to have these changes through the constitution or shall it again be the rule of the mob? Leadership in a democratic system is very sensitive and very fragile as compared to the charismatic dictator from the armed forces.
The latter has obedience by force while the former has to make it through persuasive powers. Difficult but more last. How difficult this can be may be gauged by the way systems and structures are created in accordance with the democratic procedures. Can it then contradict the desires and the greed of the wile humans? That is where the crunch comes for the uncertainty and insecurity of the politicians is such. In power today and out of power tomorrow, free today in jail tomorrow and the conflicting role of society forces them to do whatever they can to collect whatever they can. Then there are people in the media who are willing to do their bidding right or wrong. Can this power be temporally limited? No it cannot at least in Pakistan much as CJ is trying to do just that. The power of the state is used for personal purposes and there is nothing that anybody can do about it.
Where are we going to find the leader with the ethical and intellectual level that is above the ordinary citizen nay is much above any ones? Do we need the one outstanding individual or shall we do better with a lesser human being but with ethical powers. That presupposes that we will have sanity prevail in the collective decision-making that is involved in governance? The leadership concerns will continue. More on this later.