What the APC revealed in the harshest of lights is that the very last thing the collected political forces of the country want is transparency and any change to the way they do their dirty business. They would rather trade horses, do backdoor deals, cross the floor and feel free to hand wads of cash right and left in exchange for votes and political favours, thank you very much.
Rather than grasp the nettle of honesty, the APC instead proposed a seat adjustment mechanism that is a large slice of fudge and an even larger slice of self-interest. All the major political parties, including the JUI-F and the PPP, opposed the government proposal to introduce the 22nd Amendment.
The call was for parties to “control their lawmakers in federal and provincial assemblies” — a call as likely to be heeded as turkeys ever voting for Christmas. The upshot is that there will likely be no constitutional amendment before the Senate vote on March 5, and the ‘business as usual’ sign went up in the political shop-window. The stillborn child of political reform was quietly kicked into the long grass, there to quickly fade from memory.
Published in The Express Tribune, March 1st, 2015.
Like Opinion & Editorial on Facebook, follow @ETOpEd on Twitter to receive all updates on all our daily pieces.
COMMENTS (1)
Comments are moderated and generally will be posted if they are on-topic and not abusive.
For more information, please see our Comments FAQ