Outstanding performance: Pakistan PM awards appreciation certificates to 10 ministers
- Last updated: February 10, 2022 | 21:26
Tariq Butt, Correspondent
Pakistan Prime Minister Imran Khan on Thursday awarded appreciation certificates to the "top 10 best performing federal ministries" under his government.
The communications ministry, planning ministry and poverty alleviation division got top honours of first, second and third respectively.
The top 10 ministries recognised for their performance at a ceremony held in Islamabad included Ministry of Communications, headed by Minister Murad Saeed, Ministry of Planning, Development and Special Initiatives of Minister Asad Umar, Poverty Alleviation and Social Safety Division led by Adviser Dr Sania Nishtar, Ministry of Federal Education and Professional Training, chaired by Minister Shafqat Mahmood, Ministry of Human Rights headed by Minister Dr Shireen Mazari, Ministry of Industries and Production led by Khusro Bakhtiar, National Security Division presided over by Advisor Dr Moeed Yusuf, Ministry of Commerce headed by Advisor Abdul Razak Dawood, Ministry of Interior led by Minister Sheikh Rashid Ahmed and Ministry of National Food Security and Research chaired by Minister Syed Fakhar Imam.
The ministries with a performance score of 80 per cent and over were also highlighted in the function, addressed by the premier.
The prime minister singled out Murad Saeed for praise as his ministry came out on top despite his young age. He hailed the initiative as a "great opportunity" since every ministry would get to know how much the others worked. "Our ministries will get incentives to work hard, the more we publicise this.”
Imran said that when "marks" — referring to a story from his own days as a student — would be publicised and there would be a corresponding system of rewards and penalties, it would bring an improvement in the governance system's performance.
He said that no system without rewards and penalties could be successful, giving the example of performance gaps in private and public hospitals.
"When I came into power I had very revolutionary ideas to bring sudden changes but I realised our system doesn't have the capability to absorb sudden shocks and only by incentivising will we bring positive changes in our bureaucracy and ministries."
Giving his recommendations, the premier said the criteria should be further refined and increased weight should be given to how a ministry can improve its performance to benefit national interest and to bring "out-of-box solutions" to common problems.
Imran said the appraisal would be a quarterly affair, bonuses would be given on its basis, also adding that in future the top 10 ministries should not be announced beforehand so as to ensure the attendance of all federal ministers.
His office announced in a statement that the rewards were being distributed in accordance with "The Performance Agreement" signed with the federal ministries in which targets were set for them.
It said the agreement would help to improve performance, meet targets, address public issues, formulate effective policy and compile the data needed for good governance.
Imran’s office added that the main purpose behind the agreement was to evaluate the performance of ministries, enforce a system of rewards and penalties for government officials and improve service delivery.