First-ever human audit: PML-N to grill ministers over performance

Special cabinet meeting convened on Oct 28 ahead of expected shuffle.

ISLAMABAD:

In what would be a first for politics in the country, the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) will hold its government accountable and review the performance of its ministries later this month, The Express Tribune has learnt.

A special meeting of the federal cabinet has been convened by the prime minister in this regard on October 28. Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif has directed all his ministers to brief the meeting on the performance of the ministries and departments working under them since June 2013, an official release stated.

But in a sharp break from tradition, the premier has also asked PML-N Chairman Raja Zafarul Haq and Secretary General Zafar Jhagra to assist the cabinet in this review, the communiqué added.

“PML-N is going to introduce a new culture in Pakistani politics and hold its federal cabinet accountable,” Planning and Development Minister Ahsan Iqbal told The Express Tribune. “For the first time, the ruling party’s chairman, secretary general and other senior leaders will assess the performance of the cabinet and the ministries,” he said.

According to Iqbal, PML-N has come up with four benchmarks to assess each minister and his or her respective department against.

“First of all, a federal or state minister will be asked about the extent he or she has implanted the manifesto announced by the party prior to the May 2013 elections,” he said.

“Ministries will be evaluated in terms of the implementation of the manifesto and concerned minister will even be asked to give a briefing on the implementation of sections of the manifesto relevant to their departments,” he added.

The second benchmark pertains to reform agenda, Iqbal said. “Ministers will be asked to explain what reform agenda they have brought in their respective ministries and departments.”

The third benchmark, according to Iqbal, is service delivery and public welfare. “Ministers will be judged on what they have delivered to the masses or on how well their ministries and departments have performed in terms of public welfare,” he said. “They will also be asked about whether they have improved their ministries in terms of these aspects.”

The final benchmark the party has come up with is a minister or ministry’s ‘future agenda’. “Minister will be asked about whether they have any future agenda or whether they run their ministry on a day to day basis,” he said.



Iqbal added that the PML-N leadership will not only hold ministers affiliated with it accountable, but also evaluate those appointed from allied parties, such as Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam, Pashtunkhwa Milli Awami Party and Pakistan Muslim League-Functional.

According to sources in PML-N, the party is planning to reshuffle and expand the federal cabinet next month. They said the upcoming cabinet review is an opportunity for ministers to justify their performance and present their own point of view. “The party doesn’t want to remove anyone without hearing them.”

Before coming to power, Nawaz Sharif vowed to evaluate the cabinet’s performance after the first six months of his government. The planned review, however, comes around a year and a half after PML-N came to power in last year’s elections.


Published in The Express Tribune, October 24^th, 2014.