As the subcontinental saying goes, "Every two miles the water doth change, and every four the dialect". It can be rephrased to represent the reality of Pakistani Government as well..."Every two mile the water doth change, and every four the (governmental) authority".
“Who will monitor the monitors?”, a famous quote from the movie “Enemy of the State” starring Will Smith fits well with the case for small governments all around the world. Pakistan’s way of dealing with its problems of ensuring quality is the same. Create one authority after another to monitor this or that in order to ensure quality. All around the world governments have given up the job of monitoring different businesses and services. They have instead handed the baton to the private corporations with the premise that they would be able to take care of their customer in a better way without much government involvement. Flat and lean structure of a modern private organization would also result in transparency which government departments seldom offer. Governments all around the world are filled with bureaucratic layers, which make workings of these organizations crawl even at the best of government speeds. This problem is even more pronounced in developing nations such as Pakistan.
The West, however, is also not immune to such problems. Voice is raised every now and then on curtailing the size of the government. Big governments can devour big budgets in no time and hard earned tax payer money is spent in a lost cause. The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) is an agency under the US Department of Health and Human Services charged with the regulatory oversight of many products that affect the health and lives of Americans. FDA has been under heavy criticism from many segments of the American society regarding its role in the approval and monitoring of drugs. It has also been criticized for being influenced and pressured by the American pharmaceutical industry for approval of certain drugs. Even in Pakistan the drug testing labs have been criticized for receiving kickbacks and allowing or disallowing a drug based on favors given to them by pharmaceutical companies rather than the merit of the drug.
The solution is to create non-profit independent organizations or give the lead to other private companies who can do that particular job in a better way. International organizations can also be developed which are independent of government or operate under the auspices of the United Nations. For approval or disapproval of drugs it could be any private company whether from Pakistan or around the world which is renowned for its independence, vigor, quality and integrity, whose seal of approval could be respected by customers all around the world. The website of this private company could display a list of approved drugs from all around the world, complete with relevant information about the medicine. Any customer should be able to go to its website and find out for him or herself about the nature of the drug and its validity.
International Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN) is a practical example of such an international organization for the internet. It is designed to handover the administration of the internet from the government to private enterprise. It manages domain names and IP addresses for the internet and the World Wide Web for much of the world.
Regulation of Higher Education in the West, especially the US is another example that underlines the role of private enterprise in the garb of regulatory bodies. The public universities or state universities of different states in the US are governed by a board of regents or governors, many of whose members have ex-officio appointments. The respective board of regents of these states prescribe the standards, functions, course guidelines, degrees and funding for the public universities in the different states of the US. All financed through the US tax payer pocket. However, they have no control or authority over private universities operating in the state, which have their own board of governors or trustees. The private universities in the US are accredited by different non-governmental organizations such as the Southern Associate of Colleges and Schools (SACS) which is responsible for accreditation for the schools in the southern states such as Virginia, Florida, Kentucky, Louisiana etc.
The different departments in these schools are accredited by other non-profit non-governmental organizations such as Accreditation Board for Engineering and Technology (ABET) for engineering departments of the universities in the US. In fact, ABET also certifies the engineering departments all around the world. Engineering students, who are the customers of the colleges and universities would go into any school with an ABET stamp of accreditation on it whether in the US or abroad. If any Pakistani university gets accreditation from ABET for any of its engineering departments it would also be able to attract best students from all around the world who will be willing to join the university for the sake of an ABET accredited degree at a cheaper cost from a developing country. Similarly, Association to Advance Collegiate Schools of Business (AACSB) founded in 1916, a non-governmental organization was charged with accreditation of business schools world wide with Harvard, Yale, Dartmouth, UPENN etc. (the IVY leagues) as founding members. Currently, none of the business schools in Pakistan is a member of AACSB, which is a shame. One of the biggest criteria for me to search for a business school for my business degree was also coincidently, AACSB accreditation which is recognized all over the world. Any student like the author who has been a graduate from AACSB accredited business schools can boast of such a qualification and is preferred over the rest for job applications. Even the ranking for the universities in the US is done by private corporations such as the Princeton Review or US News and World Report which helps give transparency and objectiveness to the rankings. The role of non-governmental organizations in regulating educational institutions can never be overestimated and can help keep the size of the government small.
An institution of higher learning can never be deemed legal or illegal, as is being done in Pakistan. Private universities should be encouraged to bud without the threat of sanction from any governmental regulatory body. The customer who is the student is smart in enough to judge for him or herself, whether the school he or she is joining has a good accreditation or none, as is the case in the US. Private enterprise should be allowed to flourish at all costs for the good of the country. Both, in the academic institution role as well as, in the role of the accreditation body. Similarly, other regulatory authorities in Pakistan should be non-governmental to ensure transparency, productivity and integrity of the different domains regulated. This would also result in the cost-effectiveness for our government and tax payer money could be well spent in some other area of development where funds are badly needed. The environmental blight of the green number plate cars would also be reduced while at the same time increasing private job opportunities for the populace where salaries and perks would be much more in congruence to the productivity exhibited by these private non-governmental organizations.
Original Link: Pakistan: A Case for Small Government
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