A Paradigm shift required
Editorial, 12 June 09.

A paradigm shift in the methodology of choosing our rulers and administrators is required to meet the challenge of an ever deteriorating standard of governance and administration in our country. Democracy and Militarocracy have both been alternately tested in Pakistan since its creation, but none has borne satisfactory results. A completely new and revolutionary concept of adopting the system of 'Meritocracy' i.e selecting people for all public office posts eg president, Governors, Ministers, MNAs MPAs etc on the basis of merit, -posts which are presently filled through elections, is the need of the hour.

According to the proposed system, politics should be put aside and appointments of President, (no PM, CMs required), Governors, Ministers, MNAs MPAs etc should be carried out on merit. Efficient and foolproof tests can be conducted for this purpose, easily, with the help of computers, to select most competent people for the respective jobs.

According to this revolutionary proposal, advertisements should be floated for the posts of president, governors, ministers, MNAs MPAs etc at their scheduled time and any Pakistani who meets the basic laid down criteria in the constitution should be eligible to apply.

Tests, formulated by world experts and supervised by the UN, should be conducted on computers with foolproof provisions. The tests should be exhaustive and include every aspect of requirement for the job. It should also include psychological tests to check the elements of human values ie honesty, integrity, dedication etc of the individual, besides his knowledge and other requisite personality profile, capabilities etc.alt

The results of these tests will bring out the cream of the nation and give us the most suitable persons for the job. Why has bureaucracy in our country always had an upper hand over politicians, is because the former is a product of a process of selection on merit. Why should public office holders (politicians) not be selected according to similar criteria of merit?

Politicians making the government in the present system do not have to be capable. What we have experienced thus far is that they are either incapable or/and are too much entangled in the trivial (mostly personal) demands of their 'supporters' and henchmen, thus being unable to take collective, bold, independent and healthy decisions in the interest of the country or even their respective constituency. This is the root cause of our problems and has never been paid attention to.

Capable people selected on merit after thorough grilling through elaborate tests, would in turn themselves promote meritocracy at all levels and the result would be a revolution in the way we think and manage our affairs, ushering in stability and progress at an unimaginable pace.