Session 10: Executive Branch of Government

Executive branch of government is meant to formulate government policies and ensure that these policies are properly implemented.

'This branch of government,having need of dispatch,is better administered by one than many' Montedquieu

I think there should be presidential system with one person acting as both executive and head of state. In Pakistan we have this parliamentary form of government where prime minister is the chief executive and president serves as head of the state and that position is to be held by a non-partisan figurehead.

But, sadly that has not been the case in majority of governments our presidents were chosen by the ruling party that formed government. Leghari was appointed on Benazir's consent but then he dismissed her government in 1996 due to a conflict between the two. Bhutto brought Zia but then he was assassinated in Zia's rule. Pervez Musharraf was appointed by Nawaz Sharif because of his personal conflict with the general that was to be appointed in place of Zia. There has been a lot of chaos in our political system because of conflict between the two executive positions.

PPP's last government clearly did not have an impartial president. Asif Ali Zardari acted as a president while being the chairman of the party. And apparently he was the one who made all the decisions. In many instances then prime minister Yousaf Raza Gillani did not seem to have any kind of authority or a role in decision making. But Zardari did one good deed by removing article 58-2b from the constitution.

Let's just hope that things get better in future as 58-2b is not there any more,and presidents can not dissolve governments as they used to do in the past. But I do agree to the point that Montesquieu has made about the executive branch of government. That this branch should better be administered by one person.