Federal Commerce Minister, Ch. Ahmad Mukhtar, held a very important and long-due meeting with the leaders of the FPCCI, Chambers, and other Associations recently. The outcome of the meeting was the formulation and setting up of practical guidelines for the management of the more than 150 Associations and 26 Chambers all over the country. There had always been a vociferous demand by many industrialists and businessmen over the manner in which the trade bodies were generally operating and there was genuine resentment over the way most of these organizations held elections or had been transformed into becoming "properties" of ruling "cliques". At any given time, the Director of Trade Organizations is trying to mediate between warring factions, and the cases of office-bearers "suspended" by the DTO are common features. Moreover, the apex body, FPCCI, has again become embroiled in another unnecessary, undemocratic, and damaging controversy.

Minister Mukhtar has always been on record for his desire to bring democracy and a modicum of maturity in the trade bodies. The Minister has rightly sensed the need to put urgency in his program to bring forth radical and, more importantly, pragmatic amendments in the operations of the trade bodies. The meeting held in Karachi on December 24, 1995 did evolve a mechanism to initiate the required changes. These merit some discussion and analysis.

The call of the industrial community for meaningful representation in the Chambers was accepted as a genuine complaint and thus it was decided to give equal representation to both the sectors in all executive and managing committees.This compromise was also mooted a few years ago by the erstwhile Commerce Minister, Malik Naeem Ahmed, to the SITE Association of Industry. The present managing committees of the Chambers are heavily loaded with traders and brokers. This has ensued into a scenario where the Chambers are not able to fully fathom the gravity of the situation arising out of any industrial imbroglio. The traders cannot fully understand or do not care seriously about the water shortage, the power outages, the problems faced by industrialists in dealing with the Labor Department, Excise, Sales Tax, EOBI, and Social Security officers, and the perennial battle over export-promotion and import-substitution. The method of equal representation will eventually inculcate an industrial culture in the workings of the Chambers.

The idea of rotating the office of the President of the Chambers between the industrialists and the traders is a logical solution. This will again help introduce the concept of industrial outlook in the portals of the Chambers. The decision to have an uniform time frame for all trade bodies, including a common financial year from July 01, as per the Income Tax ordinance, is a correct and sensible move, but the timing is not practical. This will, in actuality, put stress on the members of the Managing Committees who would be busy in the closing of accounts of their own industries and companies. It would also put added pressure on the accounting firms. It would be better if the financial closing for Chambers is on December 31 and for Associations on March 31.

The term of office should coincide with the financial year, as agreed in the meeting. However, if the Commerce Ministry wants all organizations to start their year from one date, i.e. July 01, it would create a lot of confusion in logistics. At the same time, the business and industrial community would be busy with understanding the ramifications of the country’s Budget during that period. Therefore, it is not advisable to have trade bodies elections during this crucial time when the paramount interest would be in the National Budget.

A very essential and ideal point has been the decision to eliminate fake membership from the trade bodies rolls. It is a judicious and democratic move to grant membership only to tax assessees and not to just anybody who can fill up the form and send in the pay order. The premier abuse has been in this mode. Anybody who wants to control the Association can fill up the membership rolls with dummy members and in this way buy into, and eventually control, the trade organization. There is a need to put into effect an exercise to purge the Associations from these bogus members. The exorcism should start immediately and the trade bodies should justify and prove the presence and bona fides of each and every member so that there is every likelihood of real and honest-to-goodness membership body in the organizations.

It has been rightly seen that the office-bearers normally indulge in various tactics to perpetuate their rule and prolong their term of office. There should be a rule that after the completion of the term of office, the positions should stand vacated and the system of "lame-duck" syndrome should be banned. The office-bearers must hand over charge immediately after the completion of the term. The DTO should ensure that this is complied with and that there should be provisions where no kind of extra-legal methods are used to carry on as office-bearers.

There is obviously not much transparency in the way the elections of many trade bodies are conducted. Invariably, the DTO has to send a "neutral umpire" to conduct the elections. This has been necessitated due to the shenanigans perpetrated by the ruling groups in many bodies. The election procedures leave a lot to be desired and the misuse of proxies, especially during elections for the Managing Committee of FPCCI, make a mockery of the election process. The elimination of the proxy system will go a long way in bringing forth true representation in the trade bodies.

The case of misuse of proxy in FPCCI is worth discussing. The DTO should minutely pore over the records of proxies and of representations of the various trade bodies in the FPCCI. The manner in which a Karachi’s Jodia Bazar based small trader is appointed a representative of a NWFP Chamber, or another Jodia Bazar chemical dealer who only watches but does not deal in films, representing the motion picture industry, is nothing but a cruel joke on the business and industrial community. The prime reason is that the annual dues of these trade bodies are borne and paid by those seeking elections on the FPCCI general body and thus again here too, money buys a seat. In what way will somebody sitting in Jodia Bazar effectively help the members of e.g., the Chambers of Nowshera or Haripur ? This question should be asked from that Chamber or Association who permit this false representation.

The government has also decided to reduce the term of office from two years to one year. This is an excellent decision and will put paid to all machinations and usage of these positions for personal enhancements. In fact, it should be decreed that no person would be allowed to hold the premier position of Chairman / President of that particular body for more than two terms. The tendency has been for one person to either have a perpetual hold on the top seat or it is rotated between two or three members of the same family. There are various instances, especially in the textile related fields, where the Associations are more of a family venture rather than a true representative of the members of that particular field. This has all been due to the bloated membership lists which contain a majority of dummy names.

The Karachi, Lahore, and some other Chambers do have a new President every year and there is an unwritten rule that once a member becomes President, he voluntarily ceases to stand for election again in these Chambers. Why can’t this be done in other Associations, thus giving others a chance to occupy the exalted office and be the top honcho ?

One very important decision was the ignominious end to the lingering matter of the bifurcation of the Chambers. This drive to have a separate Chamber of Industry was spearheaded by the SITE Association of Industry, and every indications pointed out towards the achievement of this goal. However, the government in its own wisdom and obviously refraining from the need to rock the already fragile government-business relationship has veered away from this course. This is an issue which needs more poignant thought and this brazen move to brush the proposition aside and confine it to the cobwebs of the government archives, lacks political will and pragmatism. Nevertheless, the industrial community is ready to give credence to the Commerce Minister’s viewpoint. If the industrialists get true and proper representation in the Chambers, and if the industrialists are able to project, promote, and protect their rights and interests thru the Chambers, then the time for the Chamber of Industry may just be some years away. But, there will be a Chamber of Industry, no doubt about it.

The Commerce Ministry thru the office of the DTO should now go on a war-footing basis to get all Chambers and Associations to undertake the process to make the relevant amendments in their Memorandums and Article of Association. At the same time, the fake membership be eliminated, the "Qabza Group" mentality of many business and industrial leaders be curbed, and, most of all, the genuine membership be allowed to play its designated role in the functioning and working of their representative bodies. Only then will the rights of the members will be preserved and only then there will be achievement and prosperity. Then only will the Gold Medals that the business leaders lavishly hand out to each other nowadays will truly be worth their value. Not before !