Performance check

PM Imran introduces a ministerial performance review to be conducted every three months

In what really is an unprecedented step — not just in case of Pakistan, but the region and beyond as well — Prime Minister Imran Khan has introduced a ministerial performance review to be conducted every three months. In the first such review at the start of this week, the PM examined how his team of ministers fared in their first three months on job. This came during a special cabinet meeting that saw the PM briefed by each of his teammates for 10 minutes on what he had achieved so far against the targets he was set. That was followed by a five-minute session during which the PM questioned each of his ministers on how he went about service delivery, what savings were made within his domains as part of the government’s austerity campaign and how he plans to move ahead in the future in line with the government’s vision.

The six-hour-long meeting came amid rumours of a cabinet reshuffle mainly focusing Asad Umar and Fawad Chaudhry, the finance minister and the information minister respectively. The rumours had gained credence in the wake of the exchange rate fiasco last month that saw the dollar taking unprecedented height against the rupee; and Sheikh Rasheed, the railways minister, being overheard by the whole country claiming the PM wanted him to take charge of the information ministry in place of Fawad Chaudhry. The special cabinet meeting, however, ended without any heads being rolled. To the contrary, some of the ministers were praised for their performance. There, it was decided that review meetings would judge the performance of the ministries every three months; adopt midway course corrections, where required; and ensure that overall performance of the government was on track — all this with the sole aim of improving the quality of life of citizens.

Indeed a commendable step, the ministerial review policy needs to continue with consistency and in all earnest and seriousness, rather than being rendered a mere formality to eventually die down with time.

Published in The Express Tribune, December 12^th, 2018.

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