Cabinet reshuffle
The change was not entirely unexpected
Politics is one of those rare professions where you can make a complete hash of things, get sacked, and still somehow be given a second chance by the same management. Such is the case with the recently announced cabinet reshuffle, which will see former finance minister Asad Umar appointed as minister for planning and special initiatives, replacing Khusro Bakhtiar, who will be put in charge of the petroleum ministry, according to Special Assistant on Information Firdous Ashiq Awan.
The change was not entirely unexpected. Last month, Prime Minister Imran Khan had hinted at some changes in the federal cabinet. In April, barely seven months back, Umar either resigned or was sacked from the cabinet — depending on who you believe — amid harsh criticism over the government’s economic policies. He was replaced by Hafeez Shaikh, who remains the PM’s adviser on finance. While there were deeper issues at play at that time, it did not help that statements from various other power quarters and political leaders conflicted with Umar, including some made by Umar himself a year earlier. Before taking office, Umar had insisted that he had various quick fixes for the economy, without elaborating on them. Once in power, he said the previous government had broken the economy and it would take him three years to fix it.
Then, in one of the more confusing exchanges at that time, Umar said at a press conference after the April reshuffle that it was time to take some “difficult decisions”, and implied that he could not be the one taking them. Now whether that was because he did not control his own ministry, whether elected or unelected members of the ruling party were throwing spanners in his plans, or if other external factors were at play, the fact remains that Umar himself admitted he could not be effective as finance minister. The planning ministry is another important economy-related ministry. Who is to say Umar will be making the decisions now?
Published in The Express Tribune, November 20th, 2019.
The change was not entirely unexpected. Last month, Prime Minister Imran Khan had hinted at some changes in the federal cabinet. In April, barely seven months back, Umar either resigned or was sacked from the cabinet — depending on who you believe — amid harsh criticism over the government’s economic policies. He was replaced by Hafeez Shaikh, who remains the PM’s adviser on finance. While there were deeper issues at play at that time, it did not help that statements from various other power quarters and political leaders conflicted with Umar, including some made by Umar himself a year earlier. Before taking office, Umar had insisted that he had various quick fixes for the economy, without elaborating on them. Once in power, he said the previous government had broken the economy and it would take him three years to fix it.
Then, in one of the more confusing exchanges at that time, Umar said at a press conference after the April reshuffle that it was time to take some “difficult decisions”, and implied that he could not be the one taking them. Now whether that was because he did not control his own ministry, whether elected or unelected members of the ruling party were throwing spanners in his plans, or if other external factors were at play, the fact remains that Umar himself admitted he could not be effective as finance minister. The planning ministry is another important economy-related ministry. Who is to say Umar will be making the decisions now?
Published in The Express Tribune, November 20th, 2019.