New govt labours to cobble together cabinet

PM says he will soon announce a 30-member cabinet

ISLAMABAD:

Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif said on Friday that the first batch of cabinet members would soon be announced while the second batch would be finalised in a week or two, saying he was moving ahead with the mutual consent of the allies.

The statement comes as the coalition government, cobbled together into an alliance against the former PM Imran Khan, has yet to decide on the much-anticipated formation of a cabinet.

The newly-elected Prime Minister Shahbaz Sharif said he will soon announce a 30-member federal cabinet, adding that it will include 13 ministers from PML-N, 10 from PPP and three from JUI-F.

However, no final decision could be agreed upon at the time of filing this report.

During the iftar dinner with the allies, Shehbaz assured the lawmakers that he would help the lawmakers in resolving the issues of their constituencies. He reiterated that the Prime Minister House would soon turn into Pakistan House as officials from all the provinces would be given representation in it.

“We will collectively rescue the ship from sinking and come out of trouble soon,” he said.

Though the premier is expected to finalise the names of the cabinet members by Friday night or by Saturday, sources revealed on Friday that the delay in finalising the federal cabinet was because of the very reason that PM Shehbaz wanted to induct those who know about the portfolio being sought by the allies and was pushing them to nominate the most competent people for the positions.

Read PM Shehbaz to host allies for iftar, decide on cabinet

“The delay in the formation of the federal cabinet is because the PM wants to have the most competent and relevant people in his cabinet,” a PML-N senior leader said, saying it’s a difficult task to keep everyone happy in a big coalition government but one can’t give a portfolio of, let’s say, finance to someone who has no understanding of the subject.

Another member of the party said that the cabinet was being finalized and it was expected that the names would be announced by Saturday. However, the key leader while agreeing with Shehbaz’s approach said that time was running out and now the premier was giving whatever the allies were asking for so that the process is completed.

Commenting on the speculations about a tussle between former president Asif Ali Zardari and JUI-F chief Maulana Fazlur Rehman, the leader said that no such tussle was going on as the slot is not yet available.

“No discussion has so far taken place on president’s slot as the incumbent president is still in office,” the leader said, saying these were merely rumours as the focus currently was on finalising the cabinet.

Another lawmaker of an allied party confirmed what the premier has been asking for, saying he agrees that it is the collective responsibility of the cabinet of the decisions that they take and the members must be competent enough to steer the country out of the challenges it was facing.

He said that another reason for the delay in choosing the cabinet was to make sure that there was no need to rejig it after every few months just like the former premier did in his tenure.

Former PM Imran Khan reshuffled the cabinet on several occasions during his three-and-a-half-year tenure. Mostly, the ex-premier made changes while following his set rule of keeping only those who could deliver on certain positions.

During PTI rule, the party officials had revealed that performance and delivery were the only things that the ex-premier was interested in as he had felt exhausted by hearing excuses after excuses and inordinate delays in the completion of projects for one reason or another for a long time.

The frequent reshuffles had taken place against a backdrop of declining popularity of the ruling party because people were expressing their disapproval with the government’s economic policies since it came to power.

The challenges are the same for the incumbent government; which is not yet sure if it would continue for a few months or more. For finalizing the cabinet, Shehbaz hosted coalition parties for an iftar dinner on Friday.

Reports suggest that PML-N would likely get 13 ministries, whereas PPP would get 10 and JUI-F likely get three ministries. The reports add that other parties would also be accommodated as per their seats in the assembly.