To run short of dollars is bad. To run out of ideas is worse. Pakistan could have explored numerous ideas of improving the quality of its future leaders. Pro- viding the ‘none of the above’ voting option could be one such progressive step. This article will explain why citi- zens ought to have been given the NOTA option for the next elections.

The current leaders of the three main political parties suffer from eight critical shortcomings that should make citizens rethink their options. First, the existing contestants contin- ue to carry the legacy of an obsolete past.

They have not been able to liber- ate themselves from orthodox ideas, personal animosities, narrow world- views, umrah at state expense and a lifetime of scientific illiteracy. They still live in a world of affidavits, photo- copies, and Grade 17 attestations. They do not have the tools, scientific skills or rationality to navigate the nation’s complex future challenges.

Second, none of our current con- testants have ever had the wisdom or integrity to accept responsibility for their failures. Blaming and scapegoat- ing previous governments, other par- ties or institutions, they appear to have learnt nothing from the past. Never once have we heard a leader stand up and admit, ‘I failed, I apolo- gise, I quit’.

Third, we must be wary of leaders who only believe in ‘management by personal loyalties’ or ‘management by appeasement of a selected few’, instead of management by building institutions. Massively raising the salary and perks of senior government officials and doling out billions as dis- cretionary funds are just two exam- ples of this bribe-laden governance style.

Fourth, it would be suicidal for Pakistan to have a future leader who has no clue about the total fertility rate or any other statistics regarding the runaway population. No existing leader has tackled this issue in previ- ous tenures, nor is it a part of their future agenda. Pakistan is doomed without urgent population manage- ment measures and the current con- testants with their orthodox beliefs and short-sightedness will only accel- erate this disaster.

Fifth, it will be calamitous to elect the same leaders whose policies and lack of concern have led over 28 mil- lion children to drop out of school. They have no ideas about how to pro- vide decent schools to all children, how to reform existing schools or how to enhance skills, learning agility, work ethic, and creativity in education. Why must we vote for leaders who will nei- ther slow down the pace of 17,435 new babies arriving every day nor enable decent schooling for the ones already there?

Sixth, why must one vote for lead- ers who have done nothing to miti- gate the plight of thousands of sanita- tion workers (some 20pc of them chil- dren) who sweep the streets of Karachi for Rs 15,000 per month, against a minimum wage of Rs 32,000?

Why vote for leaders who are blind to a million or so private securi- ty guards, working 12 hours a day but being paid a third of the legal mini- mum wage? Why vote for the same leaders who never lifted a finger for thousands of railway coolies who sur- render a third of their daily earnings to blood-sucking railway contractors? Why must Pakistanis vote for leaders who, instead of stripping the elite of its padded perks and pensions, will promote disparity by pampering the rich and pulverising the poor?

Seventh, the current rulers have no interest or capacity with regard to undertaking serious fiscal steps, such as imposing agriculture tax, carrying out pension reforms, making all citi- zens file tax returns or enabling a doc- umented economy. Even the little that is done half-heartedly is done under the pressure of donor agencies.

Lastly, these are the same lea–ders who stuff thousands of em-ployees in go–vernment depart- ments and promote hundreds of sen- ior bureaucrats as political favours. For every government department we compared, in terms of human resource, with government depart- ments in developed countries, we found the Pakistani ones overstaffed at least five times.

Con-sider a recent ‘right to infor- mation’ request by a citizen. It revealed that our Supreme Court operates with 16 honourable justices and 687 regular employees. An identi- cal RTI request to the UK Supreme Court revealed that the 12 justices of the latter are served by 64 regular employees only.

No contesting leader understands the extent of dysfunctionality created by our bloated government and over- crowded departments. We need lead- ers who will deconstruct this huge bureaucratic mountain and create a lean, efficient, and digital government structure. Pakistanis could learn much about the benefits of NOTA from the Dakota Indian tribes, who believed that, “When you discover that you are riding a dead horse, the best strategy is to dismount.”

Dawn/ANN