Balochistan Budget: A series of bad political choices.

Balochistan's next fiscal year's budget evidently reflects the lack of capability of its political leadership to find consensus and make the right decisions for the citizens of the province. No wonder, the public's trust in the leadership is consistently faltering owing to years of poor governance, lack of development, financial mismanagement and corruption.

It, therefore, is no surprise to see violent militants and separatist groups taking over the space being conceded by the opportunistic politicians or a significantly large drop in the voters' turnout at the polling booths during the elections. What interest a lawmaker elected with a few hundred votes could have in the uplift of his constituents or the province at large?

And what interest a political party would have in financial discipline and public welfare when its rise and fall in power depends on the whims of the country's powerful military establishment?

Thus, it was hardly surprising for most to see the eight-month-old Mir Abdul Qadoos Bizenjo government twice postpone its first budget to meet the demands of and 'reward' the lawmakers from his own Balochistan Awami Party (BAP) and the opposition parties, who had helped him topple his predecessor and avert a no-confidence motion, through massively inflated development allocations.

What interest a lawmaker elected with a few hundred votes could have in the uplift of his constituents or the province at large?

It is no wonder that the budget speech by finance minister Sardar Abdul Rehman Khetran drew 'appreciation' from both treasury and opposition benches.

Experience shows that much of the available funds for the development projects would end up in the pockets of the politicians and bureaucrats, leaving behind a trail of incomplete and on-paper schemes.

Initially, it appears, that a smaller development budget was proposed but when political pressure was brought upon Mr Bizenjo, he retreated and agreed to increase the allocation despite a massive resource gap of over Rs72 billion to please the legislators and keep their support.

The chief minister, who got himself elected as president of the BAP a few days ago at a party meeting that his opponents have termed as illegal, had called upon the federal government to increase resources for the province. For what? To bribe lawmakers into supporting him?

Coming back to the budget details, the proposed development allocations are almost a third of the total budget outlay of nearly Rs613bn...

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