What do the countrys bureaucrats have in common with young lovers? They both have no idea when to call quits to a sour relationship and they both find it very difficult to let go...or so it appears given Islamabads hesitation towards the devolution process.
By comparison, the provincial governments appear to be on the other end of the spectrum: they loath taking on any more responsibility while bidding for an ever-increasing share of the resource pie.
The 18th Amendment envisioned a structural change in the government with a view of politically empowering the provinces. According to a report published by the Institute of Public Policy (IPP), under the devolution plan, 10 ministries should have been completely devolved by April 2011 while another 8 ministries should be handed over to the provinces by the end of this month.
As is usually the case in Pakistan, things have not gone exactly as envisioned under the much-heralded constitutional amendment.
Instead of being handed over to the provinces, several ministries, like food and agriculture along with some other projects, have been relocated to the Cabinet Division, Planning Division and Economic Affairs Division - a move that essentially means that centralisation is taking place in the name of decentralisation. Hopefully, this will only be a temporary phenomenon.
By being transferred to these divisions, such departments have essentially been further centralised. Resultantly, the secretaries in the capital are now also looking over the delivery of the Peoples Work Programme, Capital Development Authority (CDA), film censorship, as well as some education and healthcare-related projects.
These cosmetic changes raise the question: why have these functions been retained if the concurrent list has been done away with?
Also, financial autonomy begets political freedom and financial devolution has not been very substantive so far. Out of 232 projects that were to be devolved; some have been retained by the federal government; others, including health, population welfare and universities will be funded by the federal government.
Then there are those forsaken departments that neither provincial nor federal governments want. These have landed in the development budget and their fate appears dismal.
Sources familiar to fiscal policymaking assert that to devolve these projects properly, the provinces should have made special provisions to the tune of Rs80-85 billion in their budgets - a provision missing from their annual fiscal plans.
Recall that the Sindh Finance Minister questioned the federal governments commitment to the process during his budget speech. He was referring to the allocation of Rs1 billion for the development of SME sector in Sindh, when in fact its recurring expenditure is about Rs3 billion. Similarly, Punjab budgets schedule of new expenditures, which reflects additional resources and responsibilities, did not even touch Rs400 million.
Shortfall in budgets for these endeavours raises the risk of collapse of services to be provided by the provincial governments. With the current hotchpotch over delineation of responsibilities, it remains a mystery as to who will take responsibility when the money stops flowing.
Another important phase of the process is the devolution of divisions of health, food and agriculture and labour and manpower departments. But due to bureaucracy and security establishments, who don want to let these ministries go, the process stands frozen, leaving the departments in a limbo.
Delivery of services is the right of the people. The 18th Amendment is a landmark change in the Constitution that focuses on decentralisation, to ensure the provision of such services. However, there is need to ensure the right kind of decentralisation which is carefully orchestrated to avoid the breakdown of the delivery of services.