Bankruptcy of leadership
By Andleeb Abbas
Published in DAWN: 11-08-08
UNPREPARED and unreceptive minds are more lethal than any economic or political threat. In fact intellectually and morally bankrupt leaders initiate and instigate the downfall of their country.In this era of deficits of all sorts, there is a surplus of minds among our political decision-makers who cannot see the obvious, who cannot focus on the important, and who cannot take the responsibility of finding solutions to the many ills besieging the country.The prime minister’s visit to the US was a typical example of unprepared and purposeless leadership where the only achievement was a further deterioration of the image of our leadership.
Unwittingly made but truly reflecting ignorance was his statement, “The US knows more about Pakistan than I do.”Confusion and chaos are the best ways to describe the state of affairs in the country. With an overdose of statements and announcements coming from every ministry it has become almost impossible for any ordinary person to make sense of all this political noise. Let us take a look at the reasons for this confusion.Who’s the leader of them all? This is the big question mark hanging in the minds of everybody. Who is responsible for providing a direction to this country? Who is finally going to walk the talk?A team full of many captains always ends up with a contest of egos rather than a contest of expertise and achievements. This is precisely how our leadership is projecting itself. From Musharraf to Gilani, from Zardari to the Sharifs, we have a surfeit of proclaimed leaders who issue statements from time to time which are contradictory. From democracy to justice and from the economy to energy, we have seen and heard claims so ludicrous that what is being enacted has become a comedy of errors. Who is loyal to whom is the billion dollar question? Is the president on good terms with the PPP? Is the PPP on good terms with the PML-N? We have vague answers to these questions, but one thing is certain that none of them is loyal to the people of Pakistan. They have taken the public for a ride in the past and been forgiven for it and they are confident that they will get away with their political hypocrisy yet again.Who is responsible for all this? Another burning question. Our political leaders are world champions in the blame game. The president leading the show conveniently blames Shaukat Aziz for the present economic mess, as he earlier did for the judicial crisis. The suicide bombings are a typical example of the irresponsible attitude of the government. The last bombing in Islamabad was a result of the government’s failure to act against the Lal Masjid culprits. Most opposition and religious parties blamed the president, and the president blamed the extremists while the extremists blamed America.The PPP blames the earlier government for the economic mess and the PML-N for impeding economic recovery by exaggerating the importance of the judicial crisis. The PML-N blames the president and the PPP for blocking the restoration of judges. With this irresponsible attitude there is very little hope of any meaningful progress. So much energy and planning goes into berating and bringing down the opposition that little time and effort is left to plan strategic and far-reaching reforms to handle an economy needing critical and fully focused and united attention.Who is saying what? One does not know. Important and strategic decisions have been left to a bunch of incompetent men and women. Whether it is making statements at the highest international level or making sensitive announcements to the public, a careless and irresponsible stance is evident. The prime minister started his US visit by saying that “the next 9/11 may originate from Pakistan” and continued to make strategic blunders throughout his visit which was more of a summer holiday for family and friends rather than serious business.Conclusion: The political and economic turmoil in the country is caused by a leadership paralysis. None of the present leaders have the ability to take control of the situation and lend some method to this economic madness. Weak leadership always settles for compromises where everybody gives in to everything. What we need are leaders who can take responsibility of the situation and instead of placating, pacifying and downplaying their own incapacities, own up to their weaknesses, be honest about what is possible, and take charge instead of having these so-called diplomatic middle-of-the-road policies where eventually they will be run over by their own indecisiveness or by more politically speedy opponents.As James Madison outlined in his Federalist Papers, the two essential attributes for good government are, “First a government must be able to control the governed, and then it must be able to be controlled itself.” This is a critical balance which most governments fail to maintain. Either their desire to control the governed far exceeds their ability to control themselves, as we saw in the last eight years, or their inability to win over the majority to their point of view makes those who are governed directionless, as is being witnessed currently.May be it is time for the public to demand fresh blood in our leadership by looking for people who are bold, honest and driven by a mission to lead their countrymen to a clear destiny of financial, mental and emotional security. To stop this tragic political satire perhaps we need to give an ad: “Wanted: leaders of the rare kind.”
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