Cronyism, lawyers and big money

PTI is willing to spend Rs10 million on lawyers’ fees in pursuit of the reinstatement of Akhtar Ayub

There is something more than usually offensive about reports that the government of Khyber-Paktunkhwa (K-P) is willing to spend Rs10 million on lawyers’ fees in pursuit of the reinstatement of Akhtar Ayub, previously of the Pakhtunkhwa Energy Development Organisation (Pedo). Ayub was removed from his post on the orders of the Peshawar High Court (PHC) which found that his appointment was not based on merit and that whoever came into the post subsequently had to earn their position — a decision that this newspaper supports. It now transpires that the K-P government is unwilling to accept the ruling of the court and needs an expensive lawyer to plead its case. The case was filed on 19^th August by K-P Advocate General, Abdul Latif Yousafzai, an indication of the support there is for the move in the highest level of K-P government.

There is no shortage of highly priced lawyers anywhere and in a meeting of the PEDO board on June 9^th 2017 there was approval of a budget of Rs8-10 million to hire a lawyer to plead the PEDO case. Why the matter is so odious is that this is yet another example of cronyism. The man ousted by the court is a close associate of Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) central leader Asad Umar and the party, currently in power in K-P, is willing to go to considerable lengths to ensure that their placeman in an important entity is reinstated. Thus far it is understood that none of the monies approved have been paid, but it is reported that ‘large sums’ have already been given to counsel preparatory to pleading the case.

There are plans to amend the PEDO Act by loosening the expertise requirements for the person appointed to be the CEO of the organisation — an attempt to institutionalise cronyism and allow political appointments to be made with greater ease — and an official imprimatur. Not all members of the PEDO board were happy about the decision regarding expensive lawyers but they did not carry the day and the decision is in the official minutes of the meeting. Without putting too fine a point on it — this stinks.

Published in The Express Tribune, September 10^th, 2017.

Like Opinion & Editorial on Facebook, follow @ETOpEd on Twitter to receive all updates on all our daily pieces.