Body set up to identify redundancies

ISLAMABAD:

Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif has constituted a 20-member committee under the chairmanship of Deputy Prime Minister Ishaq Dar to improve his government’s efficiency and identify redundancies in the bureaucracy.

The committee’s mandate also includes proposing “institutionalised frameworks for the whole-of-government approach to enable inter-departmental collaboration and communication for evidence-based policymaking and rapid response to national priorities.”

Currently, the term “whole-of-government approach” is used for the Special Investment Facilitation Council (SIFC) and collaborative efforts between the military and civilians.

The committee comprises federal ministers, politicians, businessmen, technocrats, former and serving World Bank officials, and serving and retired bureaucrats.

In what appears to be a height of inefficiency, the Cabinet Division issued a corrigendum within 24 hours of notifying the “Committee on Improving Government Efficiency.”

The Cabinet Division’s Wednesday notification about the committee incorrectly identified Jahanzeb Khan, the secretary of the apex committee of the Special Investment Facilitation Council (SIFC), as Pakistan’s Alternate Executive Director to the World Bank. It also mistakenly referred to Dr Tauqir Shah, Pakistan’s outgoing Alternate Executive Director, as a retired federal secretary.

On Thursday, the Cabinet Division issued a corrigendum correcting Shah’s designation as Alternate Executive Director and identifying Jahanzeb Khan as a former federal secretary.

The original notification was interpreted by many as a formal disclosure of the government’s decision to appoint Jahanzeb Khan as the new Alternate Executive Director of Pakistan to the World Bank in Washington. However, the Cabinet Division clarified that it was an error. Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif has asked Dr Tauqir Shah to resign from his position as director to the World Bank board and join his government to strengthen the PM’s staff. Shah will return after serving a year and a half of his four-year term.

The Cabinet Division stated, “Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif has been pleased to constitute a committee on improving government efficiency in order to improve the functioning, efficacy, and effectiveness of the federal government.” The PM has set up a 20-member committee to fix his government’s inefficiencies. It will provide its report within a month. Ishaq Dar, who chairs more than two dozen committees, is effectively overseeing every major decision, from economic management to governance, in addition to his duties as Foreign Minister of Pakistan.

Among the committee members are federal ministers for economic affairs and petroleum, the minister of state for information technology, and Special Assistant to the Prime Minister on Power, Muhammad Ali. Politicians such as PPP Senator Sherry Rehman and former Revenue Minister Haroon Akhtar Khan are also included. Other members include Salman Ahmad, Ambassador-at-Large; secretary economic affairs; secretary finance; the CEO of the public private partnership authority; former World Bank Director Abid Hasan; governance expert Zubair Bhatti; Pakistan’s Ambassador to the WTO Ali Sarfraz; and Waqasul Hasan.

The Cabinet Division initially wrote Waqas’s name as Waqas Mahmood but corrected it through a corrigendum.

Former World Bank Executive Director Nasir Khosa and outgoing Alternate Executive Director Dr Syed Tauqir Hussain Shah are also members. Shah is resigning from the World Bank board effective January 29 and will join the government again. Before joining the World Bank, Shah was secretary to the prime minister and is expected to strengthen the PM House’s administration. Sources indicate the premier is not satisfied with his current staff.

The Cabinet Division initially identified Jahanzeb Khan as “Alternate Executive Director” but later corrected his title to “retired BS 22, PAS.” Khan is currently the secretary to the apex committee of the SIFC. Dr Kazim Niaz, Secretary Economic Affairs, is a favourite candidate for the position of Executive Director at the World Bank in Washington.

Arif Saeed has also been included as a member of the 20-member committee. Secretary Cabinet Kamran Ali Afzal will serve as secretary to the committee. The committee will assess the Federal Secretariat’s performance, structure, and decision-making process to identify redundancies, inefficiencies, and overlaps. It will incorporate global best practices, such as lean government frameworks from Singapore and New Zealand, and lessons from past government reforms.

The committee will also propose linking performance evaluation reports to tangible rewards, such as bonuses, promotions, and professional development opportunities, using transparent, merit-based criteria to reward high performance. Additionally, the committee will recommend a phased plan to upgrade the e-office system into a comprehensive Management Information System with advanced analytics, dashboards, and decision-support tools. This will enable data-driven decision-making, real-time tracking of delays, and automated reporting to ensure transparency, accountability, and efficient inter-departmental coordination.

It will also propose a re-engineered framework for the Secretariat Instructions 2004 to integrate e-office systems.