World Bank suggests ‘National Council of Ministers’

High­lig­hting ‘incomplete devolution’ and institutional weaknesses as key development and governance challenges and pinning little hopes on technocratic government, the World Bank has advised Pakistan to create a ‘National Council of Ministers’ — comprising key federal and provincial representatives — to fill the vacuum for simultaneous and coordinated strengthening of poorly performing federal and provincial institutions, policies and accountability systems. “While technocratic interventions are unlikely to transform Pakistan’s institutional environment in the short term, the current contextual factors — deteriorating economic conditions, demographic change and social media — may present some windows of opportunity for positive change,” said the Washington-based lending agency in policy advice. It said Pakistan did not effectively implement devolution initiated through the 18th Amendment and the Centre continued to deliver many devolved functions, creating overlaps in service delivery, increasing fiscal costs, and blurring accountabilities. Thus, prevailing fiscal arrangements weaken accountability for revenue collection and complicate tax administration. “Per­formance reviews are rare and incentives reward adherence to the rules rather than good operational performance” and promotions are made on seniority and informal networks, rather than qualifications.