Power struggle underway among govt institutions, reveals Shahzad Akbar

ISLAMABAD (92 News) – Special Assistant to Prime Minister on Accountability Barrister Shahzad Akbar has revealed that a power struggle is underway among the government institutions. Addressing the 22nd Sustainable Development Conference titled ‘Governance and Accountability of State Institutions and officials in a digitalized World,’ the special assistant maintained that Pakistan was an over legislated country and the need was to concentrate on strict implementation on the existing laws. He said every new government goes for making new legislation while the affairs of the governance could be run through secondary legislation. “In Pakistan, there is legislation but not practically implementation. There is more need to follow existing laws than create new legislations. It takes a whole year to make a law and the new government started to create new laws,” he mentioned. Shahzad Akbar revealed that the organizations do not cooperate with each other in accessing information. He declared access to information as a fundamental right of every citizen, adding that the citizen has access to the Prime Minister’s Office through Citizen Portal. “Citizen has the right to get information. The use of technology is essential for ensuring participation of people in government’s affairs,” he said.  “If an officer does not resolve the problems of citizens, it is upsetting because it spoils their annual performance report,” Shahzad Akbar said. Shahzad Akbar said the spread of fake news could be checked by placing the information about every ministry at its website and disseminating vital information to media through press releases. The special assistant said government’s job was to protect the rights of individuals. Participation of every citizen was important in governance affairs, adding that in this digital era feedback of citizen on any issue start coming within half an hour time.