Smart leaders are those who prepare for any endeavor and ensure they have advisors who can help them navigate through challenges. It appears that current Prime Minister Imran Khan thought that he could become Prime Minister and then learn the lesson on the job!!!
In a speech he gave just before Christmas, Imran Khan said “it’s a good idea to do your homework before coming to power” and that “for one and a half years we remained unable to even know the actual figures of different sectors, particularly the power sector. From one ministry at times the figures indicated we were performing very well and then sometimes some other figure showed we were not performing that well.”
That the premier of a nuclear armed country of 210 million did not seek to learn before he entered politics or sought the top position in the country is tragic to say the least.
In a recent oped, Dawn columnist Khurram Hussain notes “Pause for a moment and absorb the full impact of this. For one and half years, we are being told, the government could not even get its figures straight, let alone adopt a policy direction. Some of us knew this all along, and even wrote about, saying the government does not seem to know what it’s doing. It was clear to see for those who have eyes and ears. A leader appealing to his population to step forward and make donations to the dam fund, to take one example, was all that was needed to know that the ruling party had come to power with no idea of how big the world is, how complex is its machinery and how delicate the balance of the moving parts.”
As Hussain notes, “It seems that the government came to power with no idea of how big the world is and how complex is its machinery.” According to Hussain, “this merry-go-round will never end” and it is “not a vow to improve governance. It is a performance, a ceremony meant for your eyes only, to create the impression that folks are now buckling down. Good luck to those tasked with cheerleading all this.”
