K-P to induct woman minister into cabinet

Up to 15 parliamentary secretaries will also be notified

PESHAWAR:

The Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa (K-P) government has decided to make a woman minister part of the cabinet along with announcing at least 10-15 parliamentary secretaries in the near future.

Talking to The Express Tribune a PTI member said that around 10-15 parliamentary secretaries will be notified after consultation with the relevant ministers and government was also seriously considering inducting a woman minister for which three names were under consideration including MPA Aysha Bano, MPA Ayesha Naeem and MPA Dr Sumera Shamas.

“There is also going on a tussle between Faisal Amin Gandapur and Agriculture Minister Muhibullah on the portfolio and because of this Faisal Amin Gandapur has been a minister without a portfolio,” he said.

“The provincial government has decided to notify 10-15 parliamentary secretaries in order to make the proceeding of the parliament smooth. In this regards the names of the PTI MPAs are being considered who are neither chairpersons of standing committee nor they hold any other office. The decision will be made after consultation with the member cabinets so that they could work as a team in a coordinated manner. They will each be given a department, office and official vehicle,” he said, adding that these parliamentary secretaries will defend their respective departments on the assembly floor.

It has also been decided to induct two more members in the cabinet including a female member and three names are seriously being considered,” he informed.

The final decision will be taken by Chief Minister Mahmood Khan.

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Another source claimed that the Agriculture Minister Muhibullah has declined to step down his portfolio of Agriculture while Faisal Amin Gandapur is not willing to accept any other portfolio than the Agriculture one.

“Both Muhibullah and Faisal Amin enjoy the backing of two federal ministers and the provincial government is confused to make a final decision because of this,” he said.

The current provincial government of PTI and the previous one led by Pervaz Khattak were notorious for their frequent reshuffles in the cabinet. Many MPAs were inducted as ministers in the past and they were then removed or their portfolios were changed. The PTI sources back then claimed that action was taken against those ministers who were even not regularly attending their offices and on the basis of the time they spent at the office. Corruption and mismanagement was another factor behind these frequent reshuffles, they said.

The insiders claim that only inducted two ministers will be inducted in near future and portfolios will also be changed and this will be the final changes in the cabinet after which the ministers will be assigned the tasks for the next two years with an aim to win next general elections.

Published in The Express Tribune, October 3^rd, 2021.