BPE October 19, 2018

DG’s Desk

Dear All,

It is nice to engage again on this platform. I trust you have been keeping well and keeping busy.

It is the 30th Anniversary week of this great institution and I would like to use this opportunity to salute the founding visionairres of the Privatisation and Sector Reform agenda for their great foresight. Giving the kind of challenges, antagonisms and push backs that one has noticed, especially from the MDAs,  even after the program has been on fro 30 years, I can only imagine what they must have gone through to establish this very laudable program at the early stages. It is clear that the concept of privatisation and sector reform is not the most popular especially in this clime, but we are convinced of the fundamental rationale of the relative efficiencies that it introduces into the fiscal and service regimes of the enterprises and sectors. We are indeed very proud of the legacies of the late Hamza Zayyad and of course, the indefatigable Nasir El-Rufai.

So here we are, with the daunting task to ensure that we not only do not drop the baton, but actually that we surpass their achievement in the reform space. This would be their expectation; that we hand over a much more vibrant institution than what we inherited from them. And truly we have no choice because I believe we are progressive minded and we embody the stuff that progress is made of. The notion that we improve on the successes of the preceding era.

This week, we shall put the long outstanding issue of “staff gratuity” to rest with the payment of the dues to the batch of 67. What this means is that effectively the Bureau now has a “funded scheme” in place. I understand that this is the first time in the history of the bureau that the scheme is “in Fact” and not just on paper or by mere expectation. It can only get better because the goal is that going forward, there will be an even better scheme driven by improved parameters that will be applied for the computation. The reason we are committing aggressively to this is because I believe (perhaps to put the popular adage in a contrarian way), “To whom much is required?……………….. But please be careful to note what happens to whom much is given also. Lol!

In conclusion, let me note also that it looks like we have now entered into the four yearly cycle of electioneering politics. But please note that we have been directed very firmly by the President that we must not be distracted from our duties, and that we must focus firmly on our assignment and ensure that we meet the goals and targets embedded in our plans for the year. I am positive that we shall comply with this directive.

Do have a great week.

Alex