Published in The Express Tribune blogs on July 26, 2016
Dear Bilawal (Zardari), please read a
newspaper so you know what Sindh is going through
Dear Mr Bilawal Bhutto
Zardari,
It has been reported that you are behind the move to remove some
ministers in the Sindh cabinet and appoint
new ones. Of
course, this is nothing new, all over the world ministers are sacked and
replaced if they do not perform satisfactorily. Usually what happens is that
new and competent people are chosen to run the government.
With all due respect, I, for one, feel that
nothing will change by sacking some ministers and replacing them with others.
The people of Sindh will continue to suffer due to the absolute lack
of governance in the province.
One reason for this is that practically all your ministers are
from feudal backgrounds. They have no
knowledge of the
problems faced by the masses. I doubt if you and your ministers read
newspapers. If you did, you would know that the streets of the cities and towns
of Sindh are filled with
garbage, which
is dumped there and not removed for months, badly affecting the health of the
people.
You don’t believe what I say?
Please take a 10 minute walk towards the sea from Bilawal House, Karachi and
see for yourself the huge piles of garbage near the sea shore.
You would read that the common man does not get clean
water to
drink.
You would learn about the deaths of children in Thar because most of the
hospitals in the province have no nurses or doctors or even essential
medicines.
You would learn about the plight
of our Sindhi sugarcane farmers at the
hand of your party members.
You and your cronies, if you make it a habit of reading
newspapers, would understand what the common people have to go through when
they have to deal with policemen, who have been hired, not on the basis of
merit, but because they have connections with those who work for your
ministers, or because they have paid good money to get appointed and posted in
the cities of the province, where they indulge in extortion and looting the
people. With Rs
70 billion being
spent every year on improving the police department, the people have a right to
expect improvement
in the law and order situation, but instead, they are robbed with impunity,
often by the police themselves.
In the newspapers you will also read that there is gross
corruption and
mismanagement in Sindh. Of course, you and your ministers would react and say
that it is a conspiracy to defame your government – that everything is hunky
dory and the people of Sindh are very satisfied with the way the province is
being run. But if you want to know the difference between Sindh and Punjab,
please drive a few kilometres into Punjab from its border with Sindh. You will
see that the quality of roads in Punjab is of international standards, while
the roads of Sindh are full of so many potholes that they cannot be called
roads.
Do you need more evidence of
mis-governance and corruption?
The schools of the province are
empty and
useless, except for the “ghost” teachers and employees who turn up regularly on
pay day every month to collect wages, wages that they don’t deserve. Wouldn’t
that make you wonder what
happens to the
education budget (Rs
150 billion) every
year?
I doubt it.
And do you know what needs to
be done if you want your party to become popular again?
Not much.
Just do what the government in
Punjab does: make sure that the budget money is not pocketed by vested
interests, but spent on the masses.
Do what Imran Khan has
just announced: instead of giving the province’s funds to ministers and
assembly members, give the money to the local bodies, which are in direct
contact with the masses. That way, most of the money will be spent on the
welfare of the people and not looted or siphoned away into private
bank accounts. Appoint people (especially the police) only on the basis
of merit, and not those who are recommended by your ministers or advisers.
I may be wrong, but I don’t
think you will do it (or will be allowed to do it).
So, no, Mr BBZ, sacking and
replacing ministers is not going to change anything!
Engineer, teacher, industrialist, associated with petroleum/chemical industries for many years. Loves writing, and (in the opinion of most of those who know him), mentally unbalanced. He tweets @shakirlakhani (twitter.com/shakirlakhani)
