Executive Government in Pakistan

Governments must periodically evaluate their efficiency and bureaucracy. Pakistan is no exception. Pakistan Parliament must evaluate current government structure and approve new bold legislation to overhaul the current government organizational structure.  Lets open this debate on three levels:

Federal Executive Government
1) We recommend change from President/ Prime Minister form of Government to Prime Minister/Deputy PM
Pakistan has a parliamentary form of Government with mixed power sharing provisions. We propose instead a much reduced and more efficient structure: We reocmmend the Parliament to introduce amendements to the constitution for phasing out the Presdiency/ Governor slots and instead authorize just one head of state- the prime minister. Prime Minister (to be elected for a three year term with one reelection for another 3 year term. Maximum of 6 years for a prime minister. Parties must nominate other candidates in future elections)

2) We recommend new election laws for future governments.
We suggest new election laws in the future whereby each party contesting elections must nominate a Prime Minister & a Deputy Prime Minister  so that people will know upfront as to who the candidates are. We must develop a government & a political framework that best suits Pakistan. We must not follow others.

3) Cabinet positions
For the current executive government we propose the following: 11 Minister positions as compared to the approximately 24 minister positions currently listed. We suggest the 11 cabinet positions to be nominated by the President and confirmed by the parliament. These 11 positions  to include:
Foreign Minister
Defence Minister
Interior Minister (security & law enforcement)
Health & Human Services
Infrastructure (census, housing, urban development, transportation, rural development, planning)
Energy & Environment
Education
Justice
Agriculture
Treasury
Commerce
(All other important services are suggested to be merged in the above offices as departments)

State Executive Government
We propose only one elected head of the State Government . . Each State should have 9 executive departments (exception of Foreign and Defence) with the same titles as the Federal Government listed above. We recommend no ministers at the state level but instead the Chief Minister  to nominate technocrats to lead each State Department. All State nominations to be confirmed by the elected State Parliament.

Interior (security & law enforcement)
Health & Human Services
Infrastructure (Census, Housing, Urban development,transportation, rural development, planning)
Energy & Environment
Education
Justice
Agriculture
Treasury
Commerce
The State or the Province Departments should be headed by technocrats, all reporting to the Chief Minister  and must work in coordination with the Federal corresponding Ministry. For example a State Director of Infrastructure for Sindh to work closely with the Federal Minister of Infrastructure and Vice Versa.

Regional Planning Districts (RPD’s)
We recommend each state to adopt 3 RPD’s.  State coordinators would oversee the RPD’s. Please review our special section on the composition of an RPD.

Cities

Large Cities in Pakistan such as Karachi, Lahore, Rawalpindi, Islamabad, Hyderabad, Quetta should be set aside as seperate metro districts. Elected city bodies should appoint a professional city manager with sweeping powers to control the City’s affairs. Such a Manager would have the authority to oversee all local infrastructure services such as water, electric, transportation, health services, city planning, and security. Cities should appoint their own Chief of Police with full coordination with the State and Federal Government. A police Chief would not be a political appointee but a trained police officer selected on merits. All appointments in the City Government must be technocrats selected on merits by the City’s Human Services Department. A local Committee should oversee local appointments recommended by the City Manager. A local City Council will have the right to hire/remove a city manager.

Villages
Villages should be evaluated on a village by village basis per each region. We recommend a regional planning district concept to oversee small towns and villages. The federal government to delineate 3 regional planning districts for each State. Regional Planning Districts will be authorized to gather all data on its region and coordinate and provide all necessary assistance to each village within their jurisdiction. The regional planning districts will report to the Governor and all the State Directors.