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 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
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