Daily Times

A damper has been put on the hopes that the government finally awakened to the extra-large size of the federal cabinet, which is incurring exorbitant expenses, but delivering modestly. The prime minister said on Sunday that the government is not going to take this decision immediately, but would ensure that the strength of ministers is in line with the provisions of the 18th Amendment. Other news reports suggest that the PPP is annoyed with the law minister who has been accused of spilling the beans of the PPP’s core committee meeting, which mulled over a plan to ‘rightsize’ the cabinet. That there is a need to reshuffle the cabinet is undeniable, given the fact that with the passage of the 18th Amendment, several ministries and departments that have been transferred to the provinces. Also, the PPP is under immense pressure from the opposition to introduce reforms, which includes reducing its expenses, an effective way to do this is by reducing the size of the cabinet. It seems that considerations other than efficiency and merit will be the deciding factors in the selection of new cabinet members, as the PPP is looking to keep the estranged coalition partners, MQM and JUI-F, sweet.

This seeming volte-face on the part of PPP suggests that within the party the left hand does not know what the right hand is doing. Law Minister Babar Awan has been accused of overstepping his mandate and divulging the sensitive details of the party’s core committee’s meeting without consulting the prime minister. According to news reports, the party leadership wanted to take the coalition partners into confidence before announcing its decision. It is a sad commendatory on the internal organisation of the PPP and how the government is being run at the highest level. Now that the cat is out of the bag, it is hoped it would not prevent the government from looking for a fine balance between political considerations and principle of good government in reshuffling the cabinet, which is only part of the solution. There is also a need to introduce reforms in bureaucracy to ensure efficiency and good governance.

The Punjab government has announced the abolition of 550 top-tier posts in the administrative machinery of the province, as part of the aggressive austerity drive. While one agrees that in times of economic difficulty, the government must become lean and mean, it is hoped that in abolishing 550 posts from BS-17 to BS-22, the Punjab government did not overlook concerns for effective governance and service delivery. After all, compared to the expenses involved in other ill-advised projects, such as the Sasti Roti Scheme, initiated by the Punjab government, this slash would save the exchequer a relatively humble amount, but it would serve as a symbolic gesture that the government is setting its own house in order. Also, it is questionable if merging of the departments of ‘Social Welfare, Women’s Development and Baitul Maal’ and ‘Zakat and Ushr’ with the Child Protection Bureau of the Home Department to create a new Social Protection and Zakat Department is a wise decision. There is already very little that the government is doing in terms of focused work on specific areas of social development. Women’s development and child protection are two critical areas that concern a large disadvantaged section of society. It is hoped that merging these two separate departments would not dilute their efficacy and work. In the end, it is the balance between austerity and good governance that should determine where to cut expenses within the government. *