Main issues for setting the civil service reform agenda in Pakistan

Abstract

Civil service has been at the top of the reform agenda for many years, surprisingly with very little progress. In the past, as well as recently, some actions have been taken which can be passed off as civil service reform. But the expected performance of the civil service, most appropriately gauged by the development indicators or people's satisfaction, has not been in evidence. This paper brings out a set of issues which require attention before a reform agenda is set: namely, how to go about the touted reform, identify issues which can derail it or diminish its impact when undertaken. Without identifying such issues, or in some cases clarifying such issues, the reform agenda is likely to falter. Charting out a list of main issues, I begin with a discussion of the strait jacket of unified grades and the impact of this constraint on the conception of any reform agenda. How should the reform deal with this aggregation framework is the focus of first part of the discussion. Then attempting to clarify the focus of reform is the point of discussion when I recount some of the known recipes briefly, which include competitive compensation, performance evaluation, efficiency and discipline, among others. What is the civil service? might seem a question which has a simple answer but for is a critical question to clarify the scope of the service's activities. The nature and structural attributes of a civil service are described in the context of decentralisation and service delivery. Design and implementation of reform can follow the big- bang approach as opposed to an incremental methodology, with many combinations of the two extremes in between. Implementation will not take place in isolation from the society, government and politics of the day.