Tuesday, June 01, 2010

Careful with public money

Sir: The new UK Prime Minister, David Cameron, has ordered major cuts in the use of chauffeur-driven cars by government ministers, ordering them to take public transport where possible and to leave confidential papers in the office. Ministers have been told that they will only be able to use these cars for official business and for journeys home. Most ministers do not have full-time, permanent drivers and instead make use of the car pool. “We must be different in how we think and how we behave. We must be different from what has gone before us,” declared the UK prime minister.

Compare this attitude with that prevalent in Pakistan, where even senior civil servants have a minimum of four cars, while ministers feel impotent if they do not have fleets of cars. And if you told a Pakistani minister to be careful with public money, he would think you were insane.

SHAKIR LAKHANI
Karachi
Daily Times, June 01, 2010

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