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CE urges bureaucracy to end procedural delays

ISLAMABAD: Chief Executive General Pervez Musharraf here on Friday urged the bureaucracy to eliminate procedural delays by cutting red-tapism to provide good governance to the people.

Addressing the senior civil servants, he said good governance was as good or as bad as the people, who make up the government, which includes the bureaucracy.

He said governance was an important function of the bureaucracy and it must remove all bottlenecks to provide prompt redressal to the people.

General Musharraf insisted that it is time that frank and straight forward appraisal is instituted which would identify the causes of poor governance.

He said: "Ours is not poor country, as it has abundant natural resources, dynamic and capable massed and qualified hands." The country, he said, had a great potential to take strides towards all-round rapid development.

He emphasised his determination to bring the country back to its rightful place amongst the comity of nations.

He identified dedication, commitment, honesty and patriotism as areas that would help Pakistan in regaining its rightful position in world fraternity.

The Chief Executive pointed out five areas which had caused delays in taking of prompt actions by the bureaucracy. These are: politicisation of the structure, breach of rules and lack of consideration of merit, curse of nepotism, placing self-interest before country and criminal neglect of professional and moral integrity.

He exhorted the senior civil servants to use their abundant potential to serve the people of Pakistan.

He assured them that there will be no victimisation or vindictiveness against the honest, disciplined and hard-working officers.

General Musharraf asked the civil servants to ensure delegation of powers and prevent unnecessary interference in performance.

He asked them to use their authority and take quick and judicious decisions.

Asking them to abide by rules and regulations, he emphaissed the need for practising austerity measures.

He laid stress on devising and adhering to standard performance parameters and urged that civil service reforms be evolved and enforced for optimum output and gainful impact.

Those present on the occasion, included Chairman, National Reconstruction Bureau (NRB), Lt Gen. Syed Tanvir Hussain Naqvi (R); federal ministers Abdul Sattar (Foreign Affairs), Lt. Gen. Moin Uddin Haider (R) (Interior), Shaukat Aziz (Finance), Usman Aminuddin (Petroleum), Abdul Malik Kasi (Health), Dr. Shafqat Jamote (Food and Agriculture), Zubaida Jalal (Education and Women Development), Abbas Sarfaraz (Kashmir Affairs) and Omar Asghar Khan (Local Bodies and Labour), advisor to the Chief Executive on National Affairs, Information and Media Development Javed Jabbar, Secretary General Finance Moeen Afzal, besides senior civil servants of the government organisations and autonomous bodies. APP