DECENTRALIZATION REFORMS

OF PAKISTANS CIVIL
BUREAUCRACY
(A STORY OF 10-YEARS EXPERIENCE
WITH NEW POLICY AND PLAN)

Muhammad Ishaque
MEP11127
Country: Pakistan
One years Masters in Public Policy
Student at GRIPS, Tokyo / Civil Services
officer in Pakistan

Outline
2

Public Management Overview of Pakistan

Decentralization based on New Public
Management idea
Decentralization plan: salient features
Revised set-up after Decentralization
Stakeholders involved
Plan formulation and implementation process
How did the change work?
Reason for failure

Public Management Overview of

Pakistan:

Federal state structure with Balochistan,

Punjab, Sindh and Khyber Pakhtoonkhuwa
as Provinces (Federating Units), Islamabad
& Federally administered tribal areas

Provinces
divided
administratively
into
Divisions, each Division comprised of 5-6
Districts
Total 27 Divisions in four provinces

Overview (Contd)
4

Pre-devolution set up at provincial

administration level
B) Division/District Level
Headquarter

A) Provincial

Overview (Contd)
5

Civil Bureaucrats as Administrative Head of

Ministry/Agency/Provinces
Divisional Commissioner supervising the whole
Division, answerable to Chief Secretary of the
Province
Deputy Commissioner as the administrative head
of District level, answerable to Divisional
Commissioner

Strong administrative authority at District and Divisional

level in the provinces
Control of police and judicial powers
Powers of revenue collection and land administration
Management of development fund allocated to
parliamentarians

Overview (Contd.)
6

Issues that led to reform thinking

Britains Colonial administration system
Low accountability of bureaucrats to public
and for actions
No grass-root level representation in policy
and decision-making process
Non-existence of Local Government as
third governmental tier
Centralized mechanism of public services
provision and policy-making

Decentralization based on
New Public Management
idea
Decentralization of

Administrative Authority

Devolution of Power

5 Ds

Decentralization of
Management Functions

Distribution of
resources to
district levels

Diffusion of power-Authority Nexus

Decentralization Plan: salient

features
Military government of Gen Musharraf
initiated Decentralization reforms in 2000
Creation of third tier of government i.e. local
government with council, budget, etc. with
Nazim as Head of government
Abolished the positions of Divisional
Commissioner and Deputy Commissioner
replacement with District Coordination Officer
(DCO) at District level
Separation of Police and judicial powers from
District Administration

Decentralization Plan:
salient features
Essential basic services devolved from
provincial governments to Local Govts
Health, Education, Agriculture, Revenue, etc.
DCO and other district level officers
accountable to Nazim and District Assembly,
as well as to Chief Secretary
Qualification for candidacy of Nazim just 10
years schooling
District Assembly to receive budget grants
from Provincial government and allocate

10

Revised set-up after

Decentralization (Contd.)

A) Structure of State
District Govt

B) Structure of

Stakeholders involved
11

Institution
Chief Executive/Prime
Minister
(Gen Musharraf)

Roles and responsibilities

Vision, approval of the
composition and tasks for
Provincial Transition Teams

National
Design and formulation of plan
Reconstruction Bureau and
responsible
to
ensure
(NRB)
implementation
Provincial
Governments

Coordination
and
providing
support
to
NRB
and
implementation
of
structure
through
Provincial
Transition
Teams in each province

Pakistan Army

Monitoring of the whole plan

formulation
and
implementation process

Stakeholders (Contd.)
12

Leaders Vision
To empower people and hold public
offices accountable to public and
ensure service delivery at the
doorstep of people
General Musharraf 2000

Came in Power in 1999 and left in

2008 after the defeat of his favorite
political party in general election

Stakeholders (Contd.)
13

Composition and Role of NRB

Chaired by an Army General
Hired consultants at national level
Design of devolution plan and implementation
Provide Support to federal and provincial
governments in implementation of
decentralization or devolution reforms
interact with the Government organizations for
institutionalizing capacity building of local
governments at all levels
Propose reconstruction of civil services

Stakeholders (Contd.)
14

Composition and Roles of Provincial

Transition Teams
a) Composition
Executive arm of the Governor of the Province
Minister for Local Government

Additional Chief Secretary

Secretary, Local Government

Brigadier from the Army

b) Roles

Ensure gradual decentralization; formation of District

Transition Teams for support at District level

15

Plan formulation and

implementation process
Given the vision of Gen Musharraf, NRBs
consultation with Provincial Governors and Chief
Secretaries
Drafting of plan by the consultants
Presented to the Chief Executive (C.E) through
Prime Minister Secretariat and approval of C.E
and
Local Government Ordinance, 2000 Approval
issued
Vision
of C.E

Consultat
ion

Plan
Drafting

Implementatio
n by
Governors

16

Plan formulation and

implementation process
Bureaucracy resisted, but strong(Contd)
commitment
of Prime Minister made it possible
Provincial Transition Teams created Transition
Teams at District Level under the Chairmanship
of DCO
Transition teams worked for transfer of assets,
employees from Divisional to District Govts
Weekly meetings of Transition team to review
the progress of implementation
Complete implementation of revised structure
in 2001

How did the change work?

17

Services decentralized
Representation of people in decision-making
through District Council
However, morale of bureaucracy was lowered
law and order situation aggravated
Local government to depend on provincial
government for budget and administrative
issues
Civil services at District level not formed
System failed and could not deliver

Reasons for failure

18

Design of system for safeguard of personal

interest
No involvement of civil bureaucracy
NRB with no feedback from the most affected
stakeholders, i.e. no policy ownership by civil
bureaucracy
Bureaucracy answerable to less qualified
elected representatives under the policy
Concurrence of District Nazim mandatory for
appointment of DCO and other executive staff

19

Reason for failure

(Contd.)
Without capacity building of civil service
officers, such radical structural change
proved detrimental to the public services
Major political parties did not accept the
system
Decentralization of only provincial
functions already limited
Unclear administrative responsibilities
between local and provincial governments

20

Reason for failure

(Contd.)
Formulation of plan without provinces
consultation
No effective administrative control of
provincial government over local
governments
Poor coordination between provincial
and local governments

21

Thank you