Cabinet hits 50

The truth is that most cabinet appointments have nothing to do with competency, but with political expediency

The ruling PTI seems intent on proving itself to be a continuation of the same politics that have dogged Pakistan’s history. The week started with the government expanding the cabinet yet again to add former K-Electric chairman Tabish Gauhar as the PM’s special assistant on power — his 50^th cabinet member. The addition breaches the magic number of 49 — the legally permissible limit for the federal cabinet’s size.

Don’t get us wrong. It is not as if the federal cabinet has not been bloated in similar fashion by governments. Every prime minister since Shaukat Aziz in 2004 has crossed the 49 mark at some point. When former PM Shahid Khaqan Abbasi did it, then-opposition politician Imran Khan staunchly criticised the government for having a bloated cabinet. He also vowed to keep a small, streamlined cabinet if he ever became PM. How things have changed since that dream became a reality.

Just because Imran Khan has appointed advisers instead of ministers does not make the current cabinet kosher. In fact, while some may argue that he brought in advisers to harness resources that were not available in parliament, which is where ministers must be appointed from, Gauhar’s appointment throws cold water on that claim. Here we have a man whose greatest qualification is a stint as head of the same power company that cannot provide Karachi with stable power supply, despite charging its citizens some of the country’s highest rates.

Meanwhile, his returning of K-Electric to profitability had more to do with the many ways in which the government was subsidising operations rather than introducing any revolutionary change.

The fact of the matter is that within a few years of his leaving, which also coincided with a reduction of government support, K-Electric is back to being a mess. It’s almost as if the only thing keeping it going was favourable treatment from the powers that be.

The truth is that most cabinet appointments, and especially expansions, have nothing to do with competency, but with political expediency. They either appease parliamentary allies or external powers.

Given the timing of this particular appointment, we wonder what the goal is.

Published in The Express Tribune, October 8^th, 2020.

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