18th Amendment: No senior ministers allowed any more

KARACHI:

During question-answer hour at the Sindh Assembly on Monday, the house was informed that the portfolio of senior minister was “illegal” and against the rules.

MPA Arif Mustafa Jatoi said that after the 18th Amendment there was no position for senior ministers either in the Constitution or in the rules of business of the Sindh Assembly. “I don’t know what the function of a senior minister is and why he has been appointed,” he said.

Law and Parliamentary Affairs Minister Ayaz Soomro did not give him a proper response, and only said that the senior minister had been appointed by the governor on the directives of the chief minister in order to smoothen over government matters.

“The practice has been going on for years,” he said.

Jatoi also questioned why advisers have been given control of a department, which raises them to a minister’s status.

“This is also a violation of the Constitution as no adviser can get a portfolio. The role of an adviser is merely to give advice, not run a department,” he said.

Published in The Express Tribune, March 20^th, 2012.