No more: FATA Directorate of Information axed

Mehtab abolishes media cell, hands over responsibility to Governor House press department.

PESHAWAR:

Governor Mehtab Ahmad Khan has abolished the FATA Directorate of Information and handed over the charge of FATA Secretariat’s media affairs to the Press Information Department (PID) at the Governor House.

This was stated in an official notification issued on Friday.

Established as the first ever FATA media cell in 2008, the Directorate of Information has had a rocky run with irregular funding and uncertainty hovering over its future. It was envisioned to later become a full-fledged government-run department complete with financial allocation in the Annual Development Fund. However, the vision has not materialised.

Funds dry out

In 2008, the directorate received funding by the USAID FATA Capacity Building Project under which the recruitment of core staff and procurement of technical equipment was carried out. The financial support was provided to FATA Secretariat under an agreement with the USAID to sustain and manage the FATA Directorate of Information after the FATA Capacity Building Project phased out in 2010.

Since 2008, the information directorate continued to work on an ad hoc basis through short-term project funding, the last of which was received through another USAID-funded initiative, the FATA Institutional Strengthening Project.

Following the notification, services of all staff, including the media consultant, liaison officer, finance officer and other support staff have been terminated with immediate effect. “These employees were hired on contract under the FATA Institutional Strengthening Project,” said an insider familiar with the matter. He claimed the government was involved in nepotism as some staffers were being retained and others were being sent packing.

A public relations officer at the Governor House confirmed an official notification had been issued. However, he said so far no formal orders have been issued to Governor House’s staff members to take on their additional responsibility of handing FATA Secretariat’s media affairs. He added he had no more information on the new set-up at this time.

The move to abolish the FATA information directorate comes at a time when the FATA additional chief secretary has been recently removed from his post while a general overhauling of the secretariat is also under way.

The plans put on hold

Incidentally, a revised Project Cycle-1 had recently been drafted and submitted to Governor Mehtab for the regularisation of the Directorate of Information and for improving technical facilities within it.

As per the PC-1 revised in March, FATA Directorate of Information was planning on establishing FM radio stations in all agencies, setting up an in-house production facility inside the premises of FATA Secretariat and the appointment of permanent staff to run information management, media relations and public outreach related functions. However, the governor decided to axe the directorate entirely.

Published in The Express Tribune, May 23^rd, 2015.