Govt planning reduced size of cabinet, change of three provinces governors

[Naveed Yaseen]

NAVEED BUTT
ISLAMABAD (November 10 2009): Pakistan Peoples Party government is planning to cut the size of the Cabinet and change the governors of three provinces sans Punjab, reliable sources told Business Recorder on Monday. According to the sources, it was being felt in the party circles that expenditures on the huge size of the Cabinet were too much to bear, which could be curtailed to a great extent.

The Cabinet was expanded to meet the demand of the coalition partners and other prominent members from within PPP, but the government has gone too far in expansion which is eating up precious national resources during these testing times, sources opined. They said reshuffling would not make any difference rather it would be an exercise in futility. Some party stalwarts like Aitzaz Ahsan, Raza Rabbani, Yousuf Talpur, Mirbaz Khaitran would be brought into the mainstream, the sources said.

They said the finance minister has already given the proposal to the Prime Minister to curtail the size of the Cabinet to reduce the non-development expenditures. They said it is also being considered to give one minister two or three portfolios to bring the size of the Cabinet considerably down. He said the government should have reshuffled the Cabinet two months earlier, but now it is too late.

"If the PPP government reshuffles the Cabinet, it would damage the party's image which is already facing corruption charges but curtailing its size would be a positive sign to satisfy the masses already criticising the huge Cabinet," they said. The sources said the governors of Sindh, NWFP and Balochistan are likely to be changed in coming months.

The Fata MPs have already demanded of the government to change NWFP Governor Owais = Ghani. They also tendered their resignations but the Prime Minster has not accepted them so far. The sources said the Prime Minister has assured them of change of the governor as soon as the military operation in Waziristan is over. The Premier told them that change of governor at this stage may adversely affect the on-going operation.

The meeting of PPP Central Leader and former President Supreme Court Bar Association Aitzaz Ahsan with President Zardari signals towards the pressure the leadership is forced into. The sources in the party said the meeting of the Central Executive Committee (CEC) of PPP has been summoned on November 13, 2009 in the Presidency at 8pm to take the above mentioned decisions.

Prime Minister Gilani and other key leaders would participate in the meeting. When contacted, President's Spokesman Farhatullah Babar confirmed that the CEC meeting would be held next week. However, he denied reshuffling or curtailment of the Cabinet and change of governors of the three provinces.

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