Daily Times
July 31, 2021
Perhaps, the best thing that now-former special advisor to the prime minister on institutional reforms and austerity, Dr Ishrat Hussain, could have done was resign from his position in the federal cabinet, since he has done precious little about reforms or austerity in the last three years. Therefore, his decision to step down is welcome. Hopefully, it opens the way for a more result-oriented replacement and approach. Since all Mr Hussain could muster were cliches in cabinet meetings, it was better to gracefully bow out.
These days the word in Islamabad is that the PM is in the process of setting quantifiable goals for all ministries, to make it easier to measure their performance in the last leg of the electoral cycle. Almost all ministers and federal secretaries have complained of needless red tape and inefficiency typical of the bureaucracy as the biggest hurdle in meeting their targets.