The Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf’s (PTI) election slogan of bringing change to every segment of the society has so far proved to be nothing more than a hoax, as the party has appointed an army of ministers, advisers, special assistants and parliamentary secretaries.
The PTI-led coalition in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa has a total of 78 members in the provincial assembly of whom 55 belongs to the PTI, 10 to the Qaumi Watan Party (QWP), eight to the Jamaat-e-Islami (JI) and five are from the Awami Jamhoori Ittihad (AJI).
Under the 18th Constitutional Amendment, the total strength of provincial cabinet ministers should not be over 11 percent of the total strength of the House. In case of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, the existing assembly has 124 members and as such, the number of cabinet ministers should not exceed 15.
The present assembly has 15 ministers including the chief minister, five advisers, seven special assistants, speaker and deputy assembly and a battery of 32 parliamentary secretaries totalling 61, who will enjoy all perks and privileges equal to the status of cabinet ministers.
Chief Minister Pevez Khattak has advised the governor for appointment of parliamentary secretaries following reports regarding establishing of a forward block by dissidents. A number of PTI elected or independents are unhappy for being ignored in appointment of ministers and advisers.
However, a law and parliamentarian affairs ministry official rejected the claim, saying parliamentary secretaries would not be given perks and privileges similar to ones given to the ministers.
The official also denied another newspaper report that chairmen of District Development Advisory Committees (DDAC) would also be given facilities including a car and other benefits. “That’s not true,” he said.
Former Awami National Party (ANP) provincial minister Sardar Hussain Babak, who is now leading his party’s parliamentary group in the assembly, was highly critical of cabinet expansion, saying the chief minister had misused his powers.
Babak said the PTI government would put tremendous pressure on the province’s economy which was already nose-diving, particularly due to skyrocketing prices owing to worsening law and order in the province.
After the 2002 general elections in the country, the Mutahidda Majlis-e-Awal (MMA) coalition had 12 cabinet ministers in the beginning that later jumped up to 18.
The ANP-PPP coalition constituted a 25 member-cabinet in the aftermath of general elections in 2008 in the 124-member House.
However, in 1994-96, former Chief Minister Aftab Ahmad Khan Sherpao, in order to save his government, had provided official status and perks to all of his supporting 43 out of 83 members of the House.
Rejection:
Meanwhile, PTI Central Secretary Information Shireen Mazari stated that the furore being created over the appointment of parliamentary secretaries in Khyber Pukhtunkhwa was totally baseless.
She pointed that the parliamentary secretaries would not be getting any financial benefits or salaries normally earmarked for these positions. “They will only be receiving their MPA salaries,” she said.