PM Imran says 'corrupt system' has failed to deliver

ISLAMABAD: Prime Minister Imran Khan on Thursday stressed that the masses should not be burdened to bear the brunt of an inefficient system that has failed to deliver.

PM Imran expressed these views while presiding over a meeting held at the Prime Minister's Office to review measures being taken for improving efficiency of state-owned institutions.

He directed the meeting's participants, his senior ministers, to devise an emergency programme to address the energy and petroleum sectors’ challenges and ensure that the process of reformation puts a minimum burden on the average citizen.

"The average citizen will not be made to bear the brunt of an inefficient and corrupt system, in place since years and which has failed to deliver," he said.

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Minister for Energy Umar Ayub Khan, Minister for Planning Asad Umar, Minister for Privatization Muhammadmian Soomro, Minister for Aviation Ghulam Sarwar Khan, Advisor on Finance Dr Abdul Hafeez Sheikh, Advisor on Commerce Abdul Razak Dawood, Special Assistant to the Prime Minister on Information and Broadcasting Dr Firdous Ashiq Awan, Special Assistant to Prime Minister on Petroleum Nadeem Babar and senior government officers attended the meeting.

The meeting was informed of the administrative reforms in the auxiliary institutions of the ministries of petroleum and energy during the last 18 months, increases in revenue, and the measures taken to improve the overall performance of these institutions.

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The participants were also briefed about the problems faced by the ministries of petroleum and energy as well as the proposals currently under consideration to address those issues.

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The prime minister also called for a public awareness campaign so that not only the people can be taken into confidence about measures being taken by the PTI government to address the energy issues, but the elements involved in power and gas theft can be brought to justice with the help of the people.

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Talking about reforms in the current administrative structure, he said since changes at the administrative level alone will not be enough in the current situation, they would have to hire the services of professionals and technical experts at every level in the ministries of petroleum and energy so that the best human resources can be utilized to address the existing problems.

“Out-of-the-box solution”

He said as years of corruption and inefficiency had weakened the foundations of system, the emergency situation required out-of-box measures.

The meeting proposed to hand over policy, regulation, implementation, and the matters relating to finance and administration in the ministries to people having expertise in different sectors so that every office holder could fulfill their responsibilities in the best way while operating within their jurisdiction.

The prime minister directed to link the performance of every head of institution with the achievement of targets so that the performance could be reviewed on the basis of target achievement within the stipulated time.