ISLAMABAD – Prime Minister Imran Khan on Tuesday told the federal ministries that “it is the time” to deliver their best and address the challenges facing the country by prioritising and channelising the issues.
“There is no excuse for the government for any lack of experience. It is the time to deliver,” the prime minister said as he inked a ‘Performance Agreement of Ministries for the Year 2020-21’ with his cabinet members here at a signing ceremony.
The Performance Agreement is aimed at pacing up the working of federal ministries for overall improved governance. The prime minister warned that the persons found responsible for red-tapism in ministries, particularly in case of projects beneficial to the country, would be penalised.
The federal ministers, sitting side by side with the prime minister, separately signed the agreement, pledging to meet the set targets while implementing the government’s agenda of economic prosperity.
Imran Khan counted power generation, subsidies, inflation, exports, food security, pension system and agriculture as the “major challenges” requiring action on urgent basis.
“We will prioritise every sector or area having the potential to generate revenue,” he said. Terming the power sector the “most complicated and complex challenge”, he said efforts were needed for its rationalisation and synchronisation to address the problem of circular debt.
On subsidies, the prime minister said managing the huge financial burden of Rs 2,500 billion was a real challenge. He endorsed the subsidies for the purpose of wealth creation or benefit of the under-privileged, however, opposed an across-the-board facility for the affluent.
We need to review system for better performance
The prime minister said the hefty amount of pensions in lieu of federal and provincial public departments was another “liability” that required an effective and affordable system.
He mentioned the pension scheme proposed by Dr Ishrat Hussain under Civil Service Reforms, which was based on Malaysia’s Dr Mahathir formula of ‘pensions converted into savings’. He said including the subjects of food security and environment in the provincial list under the18th Constitutional Amendment made it difficult to meet the goals due to lack of coordination among the Centre and the provinces. Talking about problems emerged after transfer of powers and shifting of various subjects to provinces under 18th Amendment, Imran Khan said we need to review the system for better performance.
He said a province, which did not release the wheat stock, put an undue blame on the Centre for an overall price inflation of the commodity. The prime minister said increase in agricultural productivity was vital and mentioned that Pakistan was adopting techniques from China under transfer of agri-technology linked with the Economic Corridor.
He said the economy had made a remarkable turnaround in two years with current account witnessed in surplus for the last consecutive five months. “To ensure continuity of positive economic indicators, it is important to identify the pitfalls in advance,” he said. Imran Khan lauded his Special Assistant on Establishment Mohammed Shehzad Arbab for the initiative of Performance Agreement of ministries, which would ensure good governance.
“When we [the PTI] came into power, it took us three months to understand things,” a private TV channel quoted PM as saying. “We’re gradually learning things [even now].”
The premier said it was his habit to look at everything in his life to see what could be done better or improved. “We have two-and-a-half years left to take the government’s performance forward.
“After all, the public has to decide after five years whether we made their lives better or not; whether we fulfilled the promises made to them or not,” he said, stressing that governance could not be delivered unless all ministries performed individually.
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