The Missing Wheels: A Critical Examination of the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Sports Directorate's Vehicle Scandal

 

The Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP) Sports Directorate, a department crucial to organizing youth participation in sports throughout the province, is presently in the midst of a major controversy. At the center of the controversy is a glaring lack of accountability for its official vehicles, with no less than 21 of them missing from official records. The glaring situation indicates large-scale mismanagement, possible corruption, and a callous disregard for proper government procedure.

Sources in the Sports Directorate indicate a highly disturbing trend of misuse of vehicles. Rather than being employed for official departmental use, many of these government vehicles are being used for personal uses by former officials, their relatives, and even acquaintances.

Former officials have reportedly taken vehicles with them after leaving their posts, including the wife of a former Project Director (PD) and other former PDs.

One vehicle, allocated to an official in Hayatabad, was then loaned to a friend who works in a different government department entirely.

Shockingly, some officers in Grade 15 or 16 have managed to acquire departmental vehicles, while Grade 17 district officers, who are often the backbone of the department's outreach, are left without transport.

Perhaps most egregious is the use of these vehicles by private individuals, such as personal assistants ("khas kar") or even officers' sons, who have no official connection to sports.

Insult to injury, what is more, is the fact that the fuel for some of these privately owned cars continues to be met from the public purse, thereby siphoning taxpayers' money at taxpayers' convenience.

This whole drama is more than simple misgovernance; it is a serious violation of constitutional norms and a raw failure to put in place instituted systems of governance. The KP government itself had pioneered the Vehicle Management System (VMS) years back, a vital system aimed at keeping an online, transparent record of all official vehicles. The Sports Directorate has conveniently avoided adherence to VMS installation, however.

In addition, requests for information under the Right to Information (RTI) law have been greeted by silence, with neither response nor action forthcoming from the directorate. Such stonewalling is in direct contravention of the very spirit of transparency and accountability that the RTI law is designed to enforce.

The abuse of these vehicles is in contravention of several existing government rules and regulations:

The VMS requires thorough record-keeping in the matter of vehicle registration, usage, maintenance, and fuel utilization.

The Communication & Works Department clearly bans the transfer of any government vehicle to private hands.

The Finance Department banned, in 2024, the purchase of new vehicles, stressing that the available vehicles are to be utilized solely by respective officers for official purposes and not for family or friends.

One disturbing feature of this problem is the seemingly reluctant willingness of the directorate to call for the retrieval of cars by previous secretaries and PDs, apparently in order not to "damage relationships." This behavior is not merely bad management; it is a criminal squandering of public money.

The issue is further compounded by the glaring injustice to District Sports Officers (DSOs). These Grade 17 officers, who are primary for ground sports development, are deprived of basic transport facilities, while junior officers or those having long left the department continue to avail themselves of departmental vehicles.

To address this deeply ingrained issue, the Sports Directorate needs to act urgently and firmly:

Immediate Audit: An extensive audit is essential to match available vehicle information with the VMS.

Action Against Non-Compliance: The officers who did not respond to RTI requests should be held accountable and issued proper disciplinary action.

Vehicle Recovery: All misused vehicles should be brought back immediately. Penalties or legal action should be taken against officers or persons found using government property illegally.

Empowered Committee: A powerful committee must be constituted in order to assure the restoration of transparency and accountability in the directorate.

This problem goes far beyond merely missing vehicles; it goes directly to the heart of institutional ethics, rule of law, and safeguarding public resources. Short of high-level intervention, the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Sports Directorate stands to become less an enabler of youth sports and more a handy personal benefit for a privileged few influential figures.

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