I just received a latest survey report from Gallup Pakistan about public opinion in KP, offering a detailed assessment of governance in the province. The report took me back in time when we all expected a revolutionary change in the political system of the country, particularly governance, through an emerging political party.
Those who are in their 50s have witnessed unprecedented transformations in almost every sphere of life due to exceptional technological developments. It was not a novel phenomenon to observe a wave of change in the society. We all were expecting a revolution in the political, social and economic scenarios of the country. Some exciting slogans, such as “saaf chali shaffaf chali”, clean and transparent movement, and “tabdili aa nai rahi tabdili aa gai hai” change isn’t happening, change has happened, raising expectations of common man quite high.
Historically we have never been among nations which uphold justice and transparency, at least in my memory. People found refuge in these thrilling jargons, hoping for justice and accountability coupled with economic progress and reputation among nations. Architects and leaders of this political party knew exactly what the people of Pakistan desire and they successfully exploited genuine expectations of the public.
There have been some unusual political events globally during the last decade starting from the unsuccessful coup in Turkey on 15 July 2016, despite the historic influence of the army in Turkish politics; followed by unexpected success of Donald Trump in 2016 and finally the surprising premiership of Imran Khan in 2018.
These developments suggested the changing mindset of the voters to rely on new faces to solve their problems. Recep Tayyip Erdogan and Donald Trump survived shocks and were running their presidential offices apparently with comfort. However, Imran Khan severely depends on the performance of the KP government for a comeback. But the report in hand suggests some serious challenges for the PTI and Imran Khan, both to seek public trust in coming times. The report is based on face-to-face interviews with 3000 residents of KP, between February and March while the analysis and report writing was done in April-June, or last month. The findings reflect a population grappling with unmet expectations and discontent with governance, infrastructure, economic opportunities and accountability while PTI voters join the chorus of discontentment.
If we look at the data disinterestedly, it reveals widespread dissatisfaction with governance, economic performance, and public service delivery of PTI’s government. The report claims to have only two to three percent of margin of error at 95 percent confidence, which means we can depend on these findings to determine the performance of PTI in KPK where they are in the government for the last almost 12 years now.
According to the report only 57 percent respondents reported that they did not witness any new road projects that were initiated in the last one year where as 63 percent expressed dissatisfaction with the public transport facilities, and 60 percent were not happy with general development projects under the current PTI government. It is surprising to notice disappointment of 51 percent PTI supporters on the development in their areas.
As a safe conclusion one can say that by and large the PTI’s performance in their stronghold is not that enough, at least as for now, to help them secure the next election, whenever it happens, unless they focus their energies to serve the people of KPK with utmost honesty and determination.
The data which surprised me the most is about the perception of corruption in KPK about PTI’s current government. Report suggests that 52 percent of respondents believe that development funds have been misappropriated due to corruption while only 32 percent think they were used properly. It is indeed a huge mistrust on PTI’s government which should ring the alarm among PTI decision makers because at the end of the day what matters is the perception of people in the province about the integrity and transparency in managing public funds. It is because of this reason that 71 percent of respondents including 62 percent of PTI voters desired to have formal investigations into alleged corruption in mega projects during PTI’s rule. I was shocked to notice that 48 percent people in KPK believe that corruption in government departments has increased, and 40 percent feel it is more prevalent in KPK than in Punjab. It means people do monitor performance of other provinces and also have access to the information about the affairs of their neighbouring provinces. It would have been an excellent report if the agency would have included the comparison with all other provinces, anyhow it is still an eye-opener for the leaders of PTI that how quickly they are losing the public trust.
This most recent report contends that 59 percent of respondents report rising unemployment, and 67 percent declare that the government has failed to create jobs or business opportunities. A staggering 73 percent respondents believe that it is only personal connections, not merit, that determines access to government jobs, which speaks volumes about the prevailing mistrust among the public in KPK.
We learned from our early childhood that “aawaz-e-khalq ko naqar-e-Khuda samjho”, meaning thereby public sentiment determines one’s fate. Therefore, it will be better for PTI leaders to focus on serving the people who brought them into power because 60 percent of respondents believe that the KP government wasted time in protests and demonstrations rather than focusing on governance. Again this finding suggests that previous actions of the KP government, including its long march and others, are not looked upon favourably by KP residents.
As a safe conclusion one can say that by and large the PTI’s performance in their stronghold is not that enough, at least as for now, to help them secure the next election, whenever it happens, unless they focus their energies to serve the people of KPK with utmost honesty and determination.
