Hundred-day failure

A week can be a long time in politics but it seems a hundred days aren’t enough to deliver on promises. On March 29, shortly after securing a unanimous vote of confidence in parliament, Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani set out his administration’s priorities for its first 100 days in office that end today. It was an ambitious plan for a coalition government struggling to come to grips with the diverse and sometimes conflicting interests of disparate component parties. Still the 100-day programme was by no means unachievable, and consider also that the PM spoke in certainties, not possibilities. But then politicians are not averse to stating their intentions in uncertain terms and letting implementation simmer on the back burner. Asif Zardari, for instance, defended his Bhurban volte-face on the grounds that the accord was merely a ‘political statement’. Given how assertion and intent can rarely be conflated in this country, perhaps Mr Gilani was just talking politics when he announced his 100-day programme. But to be fair to the man, he is only a figurehead prime minister with no real power. The shots that tell are called elsewhere. The stasis that passes for governance these days does not help either and the PML-N’s cabinet walkout has further clouded a picture that was murky to begin with.

As it turned out, the PPP-led government reneged on most of the promises made on March 29. Let’s begin with what the 100-day programme has managed to deliver, for the list is short. Talks were initiated with militants interested in peace, student unions are no longer unlawful, the support price for wheat procured from farmers has been raised to the pledged level, the minimum wage now stands at Rs6,000, at least officially, getting an ID card does not involve shelling out money for the time being and PM House expenditure has been slashed by 30 per cent, which is fairly close to the 40 per cent cut announced by Mr Gilani. That’s it.

The 100-day deadline for a new freedom of information law as well as the abolition of the anti-union Industrial Relations Order 2002 ends today with nothing to show by way of achievement. The British-era Frontier Crimes Regulation 1901 is still in place, a Truth and Reconciliation Commission (which was to focus on the state’s excesses in Balochistan) is yet to be set up and NAB courts continue to function independently of the mainstream judicial system. The promised literacy and health corporation is nowhere to be seen. The same is true of the employment commission which was to provide jobs in the public and private sectors, as well as the much-touted housing initiative for the poor. Also, where is the madressah authority that was supposed to ensure a uniform curriculum in all seminaries? The government’s austerity plan, meanwhile, has been reduced to a joke by officials hooked as if by heroin to luxury automobiles, flattering entourages and foreign junkets. The list of failures is long and cannot be accommodated here for want of space. Suffice to say, the 100-day programme can rest in peace.

Posted on: 6-July-2008

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Source: Dawn (http://www.dawn.com)

Comments on this article

On Tuesday, 8-July-2008 at 8:07:41 AM, Kashef said:
This has become the habit of every govt. They promise when they start and that’s it. then they forget their promises and so do the public. they don’t bother thinking about the public and the public don’t bother asking or reminding them about their promises. so everyone is happy.

On Tuesday, 8-July-2008 at 12:07:19 AM, murad said:
zardari’s record speaks for himself, why would he be interested with pakistan

On Monday, 7-July-2008 at 12:07:33 PM, Hamza Mustafai said:
After BB PPPP do not have capacity to deliver to the public successfully. Musharaf, agencies, Nawaz Sharief, and chief Justice are struggling in different dirations. So, there is no hope for betterment in near future.