The sudden resignation of the Pakistani Government’s Chief Adviser on Public Service reform has thrown the whole reform process into confusion, sources said.
In his resignation letter to Prime Minister, Imran Khan, Ishrat Hussain (pictured) did not disclose his reasons and refused further comment.
However, commentators pointed out that he had turned 80 earlier in the year.
Dr Hussain faced a mammoth task when appointed in August 2018, to streamline the governance and function of more than four million Public Servants — one million in the Federal Capital and three million employed by Provincial Governments.
During his three years in office, the veteran banker, who earlier served as Dean of the Institute of Business Administration, Chief Economist at the World Bank and the Governor of the State Bank of Pakistan, abolished tens of thousands of positions and reduced the number of Government entities from 441 to 324.
He also slimmed down the central bureaucracy by 71,000 positions.
In an interview last month, Dr Hussain said Pakistan’s bureaucracy was bottom-heavy, with 90 per cent of employees serving in the lowest grades which required only minimum skills.
He said there was a need for more specialists, including doctors, engineers and accountants.
“We have too many support staff who are being paid more than their counterparts in the private sector,” Dr Hussain said.
“Over 85 per cent of the wage bill is going to them,” he said.
While some of the proposals he pitched have found an appreciative audience, others have faced resistance from the Government that appointed him, especially reform of the Provincial bureaucracy.
Now the task of continuing those reforms is to be returned to the Federal Government which some commentators say could result in another long period of stagnation.
Islamabad, 9 August 2021
