EDITORIAL: Pakistan’s governance failures are often laid bare in times of crisis, and nowhere is this more apparent than in the scandalous mismanagement of foreign aid meant for the 2022 flood victims.
The revelations from the Senate Standing Committee on Economic Affairs expose not just incompetence but an almost deliberate disregard for accountability, transparency, and the suffering of those who lost everything to one of the worst natural disasters in the country’s history.
The sheer scale of mismanagement is staggering, with the Auditor General’s report highlighting that 102 people in Sanghar and Dadu were somehow issued 42,000 tents, among other ridiculous irregularities.
The committee, chaired by Senator Saifullah Abro, has rightly taken a hard line on this matter, summoning the chief secretaries of Sindh, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, and Balochistan to explain the utilisation of these foreign grants.
But the fact that we are still asking these questions, years after the disaster, is an indictment of the entire system. 111 meetings have been held, yet no clear answers have emerged. This is not a matter of bureaucratic inefficiency — it is the hallmark of systemic corruption and an utter lack of accountability.
Sindh and Balochistan, the two worst-hit provinces, have so far failed to provide any substantial report on where the funds went.
The Planning and Development Department of Sindh did not even bother to attend the meeting. If their absence was meant to be a silent admission of guilt, then it is at least an honest one. What is worse, 42,000 tents were reportedly returned to their suppliers for re-supply. What kind of twisted shell game is being played here? And how many flood victims were left out in the cold while officials shuffled numbers on paper?
The ministry of economic affairs, for its part, has thrown up its hands, claiming it has no administrative control over how provinces spend foreign grants. While this may be legally true, it is also an unacceptable excuse.
The ministry’s responsibility does not end with disbursing funds — it must ensure they are used for their intended purpose, not rerouted into the pockets of provincial elites. Instead, we see the same tired cycle: aid is received, mismanaged, and then buried under bureaucratic red tape while those responsible go unpunished.
With US$8 billion in foreign aid allocated for flood relief, including contributions from the Islamic Development Bank and the European Union, the sheer scale of potential misuse is alarming. If 42,000 tents can disappear on paper, how much more of this aid is at risk of being siphoned off?
The committee’s call for a breakdown of food aid distribution across provinces is critical, but it should not stop there. The entire flood relief operation should be subjected to a forensic audit, with clear consequences for those found guilty of either incompetence or corruption.
Pakistan’s credibility in handling international aid is already low, and scandals like this will only ensure that future humanitarian assistance comes with even tighter restrictions—or dries up altogether.
More importantly, the continued mismanagement of relief funds directly affects the most vulnerable citizens, who are left without shelter, food, or basic necessities while officials evade responsibility.
The PAC must go beyond merely issuing reprimands and setting deadlines. The chief secretaries of the implicated provinces should be held personally accountable, and legal action must be initiated against those responsible for misappropriating aid. If this government wants to salvage any shred of credibility, it must ensure that aid reaches those who need it rather than serving as another cash cow for the corrupt and the powerful.
Copyright Business Recorder, 2025
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