Preventing the Pakistan rake-offs

OPINION:

Babar Awan, Pakistan’s parliamentary affairs minister, was in Washington last month making the case for civilian aid to Pakistan to be distributed through government agencies rather than nongovernmental organizations.

“We do not understand this trust deficit,” he said, responding to a question on the issue at a news conference.

To address Mr. Awan’s confusion on the issue, corruption is the main reason U.S. officials are leery about sending large amounts of money through Pakistan’s current government.

For example, there is a World Bank report addressing power generation problems in Pakistan that found: “A stunning 84 percent of firms that applied for connection had to make informal payments in order to obtain electricity services.” “Bribes” is an ugly word, so diplomats tend to refer to them as “informal payments.”

The report pointed out that the percentage of firms reporting such payments had been 25 percent in 2002.

The salary structure of the National Electric Power Regulatory Authority (NEPRA) is a story in and of itself. Citing a need to pay high salaries to attract qualified professionals, NEPRA established a generous compensation regime. However, instead of hiring the above-mentioned qualified professionals, NEPRA made itself a haven for retired government officials with political connections. An investigative report in the International News found that it was not unusual for these officials to claim salaries 50 percent to 100 percent higher than their previous compensation.

Things are even worse in the building trades, where government corruption has traditionally been highest. My sources in the trade have told me that it has become virtually impossible to do business in Pakistan. “Everywhere you turn, a bribe is demanded,” one source told me. “Why don’t you report these demands to the officials’ superiors?” I asked. “Is that a serious question?” he replied. “The superiors demand larger bribes in accordance with their positions. It’s never been like this before.”

In short, if you want to build anything in Pakistan, you have to go through the bureaucracy, and the bureaucracy will go through your pockets.

Government corruption is back under the Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) government, and it is back in a big way.

There are certain predictable rhythms to Pakistani politics. One is that whenever the PPP wins an election, party workers descend on Islamabad demanding government jobs they are nowhere near qualified for as a reward for their party loyalty. “Recognition for the sacrifices I have made in the struggle for democracy” is how it is usually phrased. The majority will be merely incompetent. Some will be out-and-out thieves.

The ministries are running without legislative direction. The Pakistan Institute of Legislative Development and Transparency (PILDAT) found that in the first year of its sitting, the National Assembly had managed to pass a grand total of three government bills.

In addition, 12 of the 46 standing committees in the National Assembly had not even elected chairmen, and could therefore do no work. At least 10 had elected chairmen, but had done nothing further.

If this is not a world record for legislative futility, it has got to be close.

Increasingly, the Supreme Court is finding itself forced to order government ministries to do their jobs.

The Pakistani people need aid badly. Given Pakistan’s needs, $1.5 billion a year is not that much. There is simply no margin to allow for the kinds of rake-offs for which PPP officials have become famous.

The United States is essentially broke. What we give Pakistan, we basically have to borrow from China. We don’t mind doing this if it will help alleviate suffering in Pakistan and help that country get on its feet. We do mind doing it if a significant portion of the money is going to disappear into the Swiss bank accounts of top PPP officials, be used to set up lucrative jobs for their family and friends and evaporate in a hundred other innovative ways of diverting money the PPP has perfected over the years.

Put simply, the only way we can guarantee that money makes it to the needy in sufficient quantity to do any good is to keep the Pakistani government away from it.

Thomas Houlahan is an associate at the Center for Security and Science. He has served in the New Hampshire legislature and as an election monitor in Pakistan.