The Governance Conundrum

A visitor to Islamabad would likely sooner rather than later come to the ineluctable question: How is it that a country with such an apparently functional capital city and governance structure remain mired in such a dysfunctional mess.

Now it should be stipulated at this point that Islamabad is not Pakistan and it is a very unique place that does not reflect the reality of the country as a whole in the way that, say, Karachi might be more representative.

But be that as it may, Islamabad remains an impressive place, and I am not just talking about the wide boulevards and avenues, the tastefully planted greenery, or the careful planning that has gone into laying out the city.

The most striking feature of Islamabad is the apparent functionality of the government offices and the apparent high competence of the government officials, at least the ones I had the pleasure of interacting with.

The difference between the Pakistan Digital Authority, the National Incubation Centre, the National Database and Registration Authority, and the Special Technology Zones Authority and their Bangladeshi counterparts (to the extent these even exist) was like night and day.

In the first place, there was the thought process which went into recognizing that these authorities need to be set up to begin with, given the resources and independence to operate effectively, and staffed with the best talent available from the private sector.

It brought into sharp relief how “Digital Bangladesh,” by comparison, was nothing more than a hollow slogan which did not even begin to capture the imperatives of governance in the digital age let alone deliver anything tangible to the country in the way of how to leverage technology for good governance.

Getting back to the initial question, the suspicion remains that Pakistan’s continued underperformance economically can be attributed to its democracy deficit, the cost of being a security state, the massive inequality and division within society, and the status of women's employment, education, and rights in general.

All of the above more than adequately explain why Pakistan, for all its more functional governance, lags behind Bangladesh today in both economic and human development indicators.

But for me, the question is not so much why Pakistan is not doing better but how much better Bangladesh could do with even a modicum of good governance.

Everything Bangladesh has achieved since 1971 has been despite the government and not because of it.

We have tremendous gains to be proud of, from the growth in per capita GDP to life expectancy and all other human development indicators to education and nutrition.

But the truth is that this has been accomplished no thanks to the successive governments we have had in place who have all focused more on enriching themselves than serving the Bangladeshi people.

This is not to say that corruption and self-serving in government are unique to Bangladesh, and I dare say that in Pakistan both are in ample supply.

But the point is that when it comes to developing digital public infrastructure, they at least have some idea of what they are doing and are advancing with a modicum of competence and effectiveness.

Bangladesh has come an extraordinary way in the past half century, especially when we consider that we have been ruled during this time by governments that have focused more on lining their own pockets than delivering for the Bangladeshi people.

Governance has been, at best, an afterthought.

Meanwhile, I am not sure which has been more ruinous to our fortunes, corruption or incompetence, but whichever it is, it is safe to say that Bangladesh’s problems begin and end with its misgovernance.

What is clear is that even modestly conscientious and competent government is all the Bangladeshi people need to unharness their own potential and build a thriving country.

That’s all we ask: Don’t steal too much while in office. I won’t say: Don’t steal. Let’s not get carried away. But keep it within limits.

And focus on delivering the bare minimum of government services and ensure that the government on the whole works for the people and not against them. The government can’t solve all our problems, but we will settle for it not creating them for us.

If Pakistan, which today has a per capita GDP one-third less than Bangladesh, can deliver competent and effective government services, there is no reason we cannot too.

And just imagine what the Bangladeshi people could do if we were blessed with even a minimally competent government or, at the very least, one which got out of our way and left us to get on with it ourselves.