ISLAMABAD – A major change in the cabinet is in the offing in accordance with the government’s plan to right-size it under the devolution process, Information Minister Qamar Zaman Kaira said on Saturday.
As alarm bells rang when a private TV channel reported that the federal cabinet was being reshaped, the government, called the report speculative with Kaira saying no such decision had been taken. “It’s all speculative … no decision has been taken to dissolve the cabinet,” he informed Pakistan Today.
However, he said it was prerogative of the leadership to right-size or change the portfolios of the ministers. Kaira expressed ignorance about any such decision, saying that if such a crucial decision had been taken, being the official spokesman of the government, he would have known.
A source said slashing the cabinet would help the government reduce the current expenditure, which would also meet one of the ten demands of the PML-N. Kaira did not confirm the reported decision about cabinet’s dissolution but he said, “Yes, the president and the prime minister can dissolve, reshuffle or restructure the federal cabinet.”
However, he said if such a decision had been taken, he would have been aware of it. Asked if any discussion on this issue had taken place in party’s core committee meeting on Friday night, Kaira said no such decision was taken. Law minister Babar Awan’s statement that President Asif Zardari and Prime Minister Yousaf Raza Gilani had decided to right-size the federal cabinet caused panic among the federal ministers and political circles.
“The president and the prime minister have decided to go for right-sizing of the federal cabinet and the restructuring committee formed by the cabinet has also completed a lot of work for restructuring nearly 12 Public Sector Enterprises (PSEs),” Awan had told reporters.
Though Awan had said the president and the prime minister had decided to go for right-sizing the federal cabinet, he had not said the cabinet would be dissolved for this exercise. A source close to the president also confirmed that the cabinet was not being dissolved but said all ministers would be accommodated even if the cabinet was right-sized.
Awan had said the government would take further steps in the near future to strengthen the constitutional and legal system in the country. “We want to ensure that transparency may not only be witnessed in appointment of the judges but also in other matters like the appointments of the heads of executive authorities,” he had said.
