Multiple Appointments Raise Concerns Over Khyber Pakhtunkhwa’s Officer Shortage

 

 

 

Peshawar ,   A case in which one officer is holding the position of project director simultaneously in the Sports Directorate and Kohat Division Development Project is raising eyebrows about officer shortage in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa.

The situation further complicates when such officer is also in the demand of the Peshawar Development Authority. Then, there is this strange situation. Several questions arise here: one person managing the workload of multiple high-stake projects and what this says about Khyber Pakhtunkhwa's claim of a few qualified officers in the country.

This officer, working at the rank of PPS BS-18, undertakes two important positions. He works as Project Director, and the position includes managing the development and rehabilitation of sports facilities at Khyber Pakhtunkhwa. Seeing the local sports infrastructure of this province, this place is most important for its development.

It deputed and appointed him as a Project Director of the Kohat Division Development Project (KDDP), which is a strategic project under the Planning & Development Department. The work further deals with handling the vital developmental projects in the Kohat region.

Furthermore, PDA has also sought that the same officer work on and nurture this other substantial position, such as the New Peshawar Valley Housing Scheme; an urban development project. In this situation, with one and the same officer spearheading a number of high-profile ventures, the questions are not only about usualness but also efficacy and ability.

Deputations and additional appointments are conditioned upon the approval of the Provincial Project Selection Committee. However, for specific situations, the Administrative Secretary can grant additional charges, but this should not be a standing authority; these are to be "avoided.".

Despite all these, most officers remain to serve as major officials while holding other positions without official approval. This makes one ask whether the province genuinely needs more qualified officers or maybe it lacks sufficient management over its resources.

It would be hypocritical for the province to claim an officer shortage when its existing officers are overwhelmed.

Accumulating new roles assigned to this officer, this incompetence in resource management might also be part of the problem from the provincial government's perspective.

At a time when the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa government is undertaking some of its largest ever developmental projects, dispersing responsibility among several portfolios may compromise the quality of work and delay it. The Peshawar Development Authority is moving forward its urban development projects, and the Sports Directorate is under pressure to rehabilitate sporting facilities in all districts across the province.

Over-reliance on too much burden on a single officer has been at risk for both delaying the project and it going over budget, thus failing to fulfill the public's needs with regards to urban development as well as sports infrastructure. This comes to question the governmental body's commitment to administrative capacity in the province.

This case demands a review of the deputation policy. PIP 2022 was structured to ensure efficient human resource management wherein officers were to be given work where they would do the most effective work without letting them overstretch. Cases like the present one suggest that proper observance of these regulations does not exist.

 The provincial government should, therefore, ensure that officers are not overburdened to the detriment of public interest. However impressive these emergencies may be, they alone cannot justify the prevailing system whereby one individual is saddled with several major projects at a time. That is counterproductive to administrative efficiency and good governance.

The one case of holding several appointments by one officer raises serious questions about how Khyber Pakhtunkhwa manages its officer cadre. If the government needs officers while talking about scarcity, then such a practice - where one individual is trying to perform several roles - argues a lot with this slogan of scarcity of officers. To improve public project management and governance, the province should change its management style in terms of allocation of resources so that officers do not have too many significant tasks on their plate.

#KPKGovernance #DeputationPolicy  #MultipleRoles  #PDAProjectDirector #KPKOfficersShortage #SportsDirectorate  #KDAProjectDirector  #AdministrativeAccountability #KPKTransparency