ISLAMABAD, Dec 16 (APP): Speakers on Friday said improved electoral system, empowered local governments and revitalized democratic nurseries including local governments, student and trade unions were crucial to ensure the quality of representation and efficient working of legislators in parliament.
They made the remarks while speaking at the third phase of the Grand National Dialogue on ‘Pakistan’s Political System and Governance organized by the Institute of Policy Studies (IPS) in collaboration with the Islamabad Policy Research Institute (IPRI) at the National University of Sciences & Technology (NUST).
Chairman IPS Khalid Rahman pointed out that political system and governance are related terms. However, it was difficult to sequence them as cause and effect because each seemed to equally depend on the other.
“This chicken-and-egg situation depicts that work is needed to be done in every dimension of governance and legislation by adopting reformative measures and the correct mindset,” he added.
He further mentioned that, in order to bring reformative changes for better governance, it was significant to dispense clarity to four fundamental questions which included who had the power?, Who made the decisions and how?, To what extent the stakeholders were being taken on board? And how effective was the system of accountability?
Pointing out the flaws of inherited policies and governance models, former vice-chancellor, of Muslim Youth University Tahir Hijazi stressed that in order to fast-track the delivery of services, the need of the hour was to redefine the roles of people in governance, bring proficient and skillful people as decision-makers, and hold everyone answerable through a system of accountability.
In this regard, he argued that the youth had to play a prominent role in the future and, as an asset, they must be trained and schooled in politics, electoral procedures, and decision-making.
In addition to these aspects, there is also the context of culture behind every governance success and failure, stated the former minister of AJ&K Farzana Yaqoob.
She further pointed out that the governance system was centered on chaos management since Pakistan’s inception and had not moved towards planned development and cohesion.
Talking about the role of youth, she also stressed that youngsters must be given exposure to political culture. Moreover, women’s representation must be improved, however, they should also be more proactive, she added.
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