A presentation delivered by Mr. Mohammad Ishaque Jamali, an officer of Provincial Civil Service Balochistan, Pakistan during his study of Master's in Public Policy Program at National Graduate Institute for Policy Studies (GRIPS), Tokyo for the Course titled "Policy Design and Implementation in Developing Countries".

1. DECENTRALIZATION REFORMS OF
PAKISTAN’S CIVIL BUREAUCRACY
(ASTO RY O F 1 0 -YEARS EXPERIENCE
WITH NEW PO LICY AND PLAN)
Muhammad Ishaque
MEP11127
Country: Pakistan
One year’s Masters in Public Policy Student at
GRIPS, Tokyo / Civil Services officer in Pakistan

2. Outline
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 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

3. Public Management Overview of
Pakistan:3
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

4. Overview (Contd…)
Pre-devolution set up at provincial administration
level B) Division/District Level
A) Provincial Headquarter
4

5. 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

6. Overview (Contd….)
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Issues that led to reformthinking
Britain’s 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

7. Devolution of Power
Decentralization of
Management Functions
Decentralization of
Administrative Authority
Decentralization based on New
Public Management idea
5 Ds
Distribution of
resources to
district levels
Diffusion of power-Authority Nexus

8. Decentralization Plan: salient features
8
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

9. 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
9

10. Revised set-up after
Decentralization (Contd….)10
A) Structure of State B) Structure of
District Govt

11. Stakeholders involved
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Institution Roles and responsibilities
Chief Executive/Prime
Minister
(Gen ® Musharraf)
Vision, approval of the composition and
tasks forProvincial Transition Teams
National Reconstruction
Bureau (NRB)
Design and formulation of plan and
responsible to ensure 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
• Membership in each Provincial
Transition Team

12. Stakeholders (Contd….)
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Leader’s Vision
“To empowerpeopleandholdpublic offices
accountableto public andensureservice
deliveryat thedoorstepof people”–
General Musharraf 2000
Came in Power in 1999 and left in
2008 after the defeat of his favorite
political party in general election

13. Stakeholders (Contd….)
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
13

14. Stakeholders (Contd….)
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
14

15. Plan formulation and
implementation process15
Given the vision of Gen ® Musharraf, NRB’s
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 issuedVisionVision
Plan
Drafting
Plan
Drafting
Consultati
on
Consultati
on
Approval
of C.E
Approval
of C.E
Implementation
by Governors
Implementation
by Governors

16. Plan formulation and
implementation process (Contd…)
Bureaucracy resisted, but strong 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
16

17. How did the change work?
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
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18. Reasons forfailure
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
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19. Reason forfailure (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
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20. Reason forfailure (Contd….)
Formulation of plan without provinces
consultation
No effective administrative control of provincial
government over local governments
Poor coordination between provincial and local
governments
20

21. Thank you
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