GOVERNANCE

What is governance? If you ask me, I would say governance is all about alignment. Aligning multiple group, each with its own menu of interest, some coherently articulated some not, demanding recognition and satisfaction from govt. What a good governance try, is simply enforcing the are of commonality, reconciliation of difference through persuasion not domination. There is greater good to be achieved by compromise and the cost incurred by people now will be more than compensated for by gain in future.

What is governance crisis?It can simply be defined as breakdown in govt. ability to achieve and sustain alignment. Stakeholder with more bargaining power becomes more assertive to their interest because the message about the greater good and future gains, losses credibility. This leads to govt. compelled to pander to the interest of powerful groups, inevitably at the expense of other.
What is expected from the next govt. is to tackle the problem in four listed dimension:

• Alignment within the govt.

              Being part of same structure, ministries and various department are bound to same commitment of larger good. Every ministry represent the interest of the group over which it has jurisdiction. Although it is warranted but at the same time the concept of larger good, the core interest of policy must not lost its value. So for the co-ordination within the govt. we have GOM, EGOM, Cabinet Committies and cabinet itself. But the problem is "efficiency" which need in present world is not shown by these committes. 

• Alignment between center and state

                Present shift towards greater responsibility to the states for designing and implementation is welcome response to this general concern. However capacity to design and let alone implement effective programs in different condition may currently not exist at the state level The move towards decentralization need to be supported by creating the right kind of knowledge and capacity generation and sharing mechanism..

• alignment between private sector and govt.

                  In this sector major contention is in PPP. the cost and  revenue assumption of many project have been completely violated, leading to enormous financial stress, which is piling  over into the banking sector as well. The problem is unsustainable risk distribution between the partners.

                 

• alignment between state and citizen.

                  Price rise and corruption is the major problem and need immediate attention to align state and citizen on same page. To restore confidence of citizen on state sharing of information about possible impact to the concerned parties should be at the forefront in any policy formulation. 

 Some alignment issue could probably be resolved by simply doing things differently within the exiting system. Other will require reforming the system itself. The risk is high so the reward, if successful because here not yours not mine but nations future is at stake.