More of the same? Few fresh faces expected in K-P’s next cabinet

PTI chief wants ministers to continue with portfolios they were assigned earlier

PESHAWAR: As the all-important matter of deciding the new provincial chief minister was resolved, with the province to see the ‘new face’ of Mehmood Khan in that slot, there appears to be little desire from the winning party to tamper with a winning formula and bring in new faces elsewhere in the government.

The Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) had secured a two-thirds majority in the provincial assembly coming off the back of an arguably successful five years in office. However, it got embroiled in a tussle over who would become the next chief minister of the province.

Party chief Imran Khan is keen on taking the top two contenders, former incumbent Pervez Khattak and former provincial assembly speaker Asad Qaiser, to the national assembly with him where he would bank on their political skills and nous to cobble together a coalition government – just as they had delivered for five years in Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa (K-P).

To resolve a dispute between party leaders who coveted the top slot, Imran decided earlier this week to nominate former provincial sports, culture and irrigation minister from Swat Mehmood Khan for the hot seat.

“Yes, former education minister Atif Khan had emerged as the strongest candidate for the slot but Imran, to avoid groupings, refused both Khattak’s nominee and Atif to cool down the situation,” a party insider told The Express Tribune.

“This is a fact that people may express their reservations in their homes, guest houses or even amongst friends, but when it comes to saying something in front of the party chairman, we all know that Imran never steps back,” a senior provincial party leader said.

“No, it does not mean Imran dictates but all the elected members know that Imran does not accept pressure and he wanted to save the party from being divided into groups,” he replied to a question, adding that while there were some fresh and educated members in contention for key ministries, but there was little chance that there will be a shuffling in portfolios with ministers expected to pick up where they left off in May.

“Things will be finalised tonight [Friday night] but as far as I know, it has been decided to appoint the same lawmakers for the ministries they oversaw from 2013 to 2018,” he said, adding Imran was keen on Atif to resume his duties in the education ministry.

The reason for the move, the PTI provincial leader said, was because these MPAs had already done their time to learn the intricacies of their respective departments, were acutely aware of the situation on the ground and of the party’s temperament towards certain subjects and would be carrying on with the same policies as before.

“They [the previous ministers] will be in a better position to carry on rather than nominating new faces,” he said.

With the CM seat sorted, the party is likely to also name a new face for the K-P Assembly seat, previously occupied by Qaiser.

This seat is expected to go to former provincial information minister and senior party leader Shah Farman. Apart from handling the duties as the provincial assembly speaker, Farman will also be expected to take up the mantle at the finance ministry — which was previously run by PTI’s then coalition government member, Jamaat-e-Islami’s (JI) Muzaffar Said.

The party’s central leadership has further decided that former minister for health and information technology Shahram Khan Tarakai will again run the two departments where the province saw rapid and extended progress in the past five years.

His uncle Muhammad Ali Khan, though, is expected to become a cabinet member this time around.

“Mushtaq Ghani, who ran the higher education and information ministry [for some time] is expected to carry on with both provincial ministries,” another PTI office-bearer said.

Despite that, there are still at least three other empty slots which the PTI would have to pick fresh faces for.

This includes the portfolio for agriculture. The ministry was previously occupied by Ikramullah Gandapur. He, however, was killed in a suicide bombing in his native town just days before the elections on July 22.

Another empty slot would be that of law, parliamentary affairs and human rights ministry. The portfolio was previously occupied by Imtiaz Shahid Qureshi of the PTI. The former provincial minister had lost his seat in the July 25 elections to Muttahida Majlis-e-Amal (MMA) candidate Shah Dad Khan.

The Zakat and Usher, Auqaf, Hajj and Religious Affairs Ministry will also be up for grabs since it too was allotted to an MPA from JI, Habibur Rahman.

Despite repeated attempts, Atif, Tarakai, Ghani or Farman could not be reached since they were at the party’s de facto central headquarters in Bani Gala, Islamabad. 

Published in The Express Tribune, August 11^th, 2018.