ISLAMABAD – Prime Minister Yousaf Raza Gilani, in consultation with the president, has decided in principle to dissolve the federal cabinet in a few days and a majority of ministers to be named in the new cabinet are likely to be new faces.
“Some of the ministers may be reappointed while a majority of them will make it for the first time to the federal cabinet,” a source said, adding that an exercise to evaluate the performance of the ministers had already started to screen out the “doers”. The decision to dissolve and reconstitute the federal cabinet has been made to right-size the team of ministers in accordance with the 18th Amendment.
“The cabinet will be dissolved in a few days,” a source close to the prime minister confirmed to Pakistan Today, saying the decision had been made much earlier, but could not be implemented due to the walking away of the JUI-F and the MQM from the government. “Similarly, the government had put the dissolution of the cabinet on the back-burner because of the controversy over the reformed general sales tax and the urgency to pass the 19th Amendment,” he added.
Under the 18th amendment, the prime minister cannot appoint more than 39 ministers – 35 from the National Assembly (10 percent of the total NA strength of 342) and four from the Senate (10 percent of 35 ministers from the Lower House).
The process of the implementation of the 18th Amendment has to be completed by June 30 this year. Seventeen ministries are being devolved to the provinces, while four ministers – two each from the JUI-F and the MQM – have already resigned. It is expected that the MQM, which had parted ways with the government but rejoined it without ministerial slots, is likely to be given a share in the new cabinet.
Likewise, the chances of the JUI-F’s rejoining the government cannot be ruled out, as the party may reconsider its decision after the cabinet is dissolved, the source said. As the government faces serious financial crisis, the move to right-size the federal cabinet would send a positive signal to the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and other foreign development partners of the country besides appeasing the government’s critics at home, the source added.
The Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) has also demanded the government cut its expenditures and reduce the size of the cabinet. The PPP and the PML-N are already engaged in talks to implement the 10-point reforms agenda proposed by PML-N chief Nawaz Sharif. Meanwhile, Gilani said the government would cut the cabinet size in consultation with coalition partners. “The decision to right-size the cabinet is definite and a formal announcement will be made soon,” he said while talking to foreign media representatives in Lahore.
The prime minister said Nawaz’s 10-point agenda was in fact a sign of the PML-N’s trust in his government. But Gilani said terrorism, which had affected the economy the most, was missing from the PML-N agenda. He said the government would welcome the Indian prime minister whenever he decided to visit Pakistan.
