Federal cabinet resigns

ISLAMABAD: The federal ministers on Wednesday submitted their resignations to Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani, who intends to appoint a smaller cabinet in order to reduce government spending at a time of economic crisis.
“Today’s meeting is going to be the last meeting of the present cabinet,” Prime Minister Gilani told more than 50 ministers, praising their record on the economy, constitutional reform and response to major floods.
A senior government official told AFP that the ministers had tendered their resignations to Gilani during the meeting.

“Now the prime minister will forward these resignations to the president for acceptance,” the official told AFP, on condition of anonymity.
“The cabinet usually stands dissolved after the president accepts the resignations forwarded to him by the prime minister,” he added.
The main ruling Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) last week authorised Gilani to dissolve the cabinet after powerful opposition parties demanded a smaller line-up as part of retrenchment efforts to tackle Pakistan’s economic woes.
A reduction in the size of the cabinet is a legal requirement of the 18th amendment to the constitution, which stipulates it should be no larger than 11 per cent of parliament.
“The total size of the parliament is 442 members and accordingly the size of the cabinet should be 49,” said PPP spokeswoman Fauzia Wahab.
“We need people in the cabinet who are efficient and competent and whose integrity is beyond any doubt,” she told AFP.
The government is under huge pressure from the opposition to implement a raft of reforms, in order to head off any possible threat of a call for early elections from opposition leader and former prime minister Nawaz Sharif.
Sharif in January gave the government 45 days to implement key reforms, including a reduction in non-development spending, or risk having the PPP kicked out of government in Punjab province.
One of the demands, to reverse a controversial and deeply unpopular fuel price hike, was met by Gilani within days.
Analysts said the resignations were little more than window dressing, which themselves would not fix the economy.
“The decision conveys a good political message to opposition parties and donor agencies. But they need substantive decisions to tackle the economic problems,” said political science professor Rasool Bakhsh Raees.

Govt decides to trim cabinet size

Tribune
The government is yet to decide how many ministries will be devolved and the ministers who will be shown the door.

ISLAMABAD: A day after Pakistan Peoples Party’s core committee meeting, the government announced it would cut the size of the federal cabinet – a decision that has to be taken by June this year to implement the 18th Amendment.

Law Minister Babar Awan announced that the government has decided on “rightsizing” the cabinet to save expenditures. The decision was confirmed by both the Prime Minister  House and the President House, but reports of a cabinet dissolution were denied.

The number of ministries to be devolved is yet to be determined and which ministers will be shown the door.

Under the 18th amendment, the concurrent list was abolished and a number to subjects shifted to the provinces. The number of cabinet members has been fixed to 11 per cent of the total 442-member strength of parliament. A committee is already working for the implementation of the amendment.

The government has been under pressure to curtail government expenditures and plug corruption in order to save the already devastated economy from further deterioration. The main opposition party, Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz, has been pressing the government to implement a reform agenda.

During the core committee meeting on Friday, members of the ruling PPP – most of whom are considered to be close associates of President Asif Ali Zardari  – discussed ways to handle growing pressure from political parties and the general public.

“President Zardari said we have to do something to come out of this pressure. it was decided that if any drastic decision is taken, it might have serious backlash within the party as those shown the door can react. Hence, it was decided that a step should be taken in line with the 18th amendment, so that nobody can raise objections,” a participant of the meeting told The Express Tribune.

The government plans to devolve 10 ministries by February this year, while around another eight will be devolved by June. Some of the ministries will be handed over to the provinces, while others will be merged. As a first step, the government is likely to slash the ministers of state – portfolios that have no significant powers under the rules of business, but a tag used to get perks and privileges as political bribe.

Meanwhile, spokesperson to the President Farhatullah Babar said that the core committee meeting decided to appoint a committee, comprising Minister for Water and Power Raja Pervaz Ashraf, Minister for Labour and Manpower and Religious Affairs Syed Khurshid Ahmed Shah, and Senator Mian Raza Rabbani, adviser to the PM, to resolve the KESC workers’ issue expeditiously.

The meeting reiterated the commitment of the party to stand by the working classes. It recalled that the in line with this commitment, the government had recently reinstated employees sacked in the past.

The spokesperson added that Interior Minister Senator Rehman Malik gave a detailed briefing on the law and order situation and the recent spate of targeted killings in Karachi. The minister explained various steps taken so far to restore normalcy in the city.

The meeting also decided that the expenses on the building of the Benazir Bhutto memorial in Islamabad will be borne by the party and public funds will not be used.  The president informed his party members meeting about his recent foreign visits and his talks with President Obama and other leaders. The president said appropriate steps should be taken to benefit from the offer made by the Bill Gates Foundation to provide free immunization services to people against various diseases, particularly polio.

Meanwhile, Finance Minister Dr Abdul Hafeez Shaikh said that the government has slashed the Public Sector Development Programme by Rs100 billion from the budgeted Rs280 billion and it will be reduced in coming days.

Shaikh was talking to the business community at the Federation of Pakistan Chambers of Commerce and Industry on Saturday.  He reiterated that the reformed general sales tax will document the economy and will also reduce inflation. Shaikh said that it is necessary to document the economy, otherwise “we cannot think of sustainable progress, as we do not have enough resources to meet our burgeoning expenses.  We also need to think about our rising security demands and the government needs to cater to this as a priority.”

MQM rejoins PPP-led coalition, rejects comeback to Cabinet

Tribune

KARACHI: The MQM Rabita committee has decided that the MQM will rejoin the government, but will not currently return to the federal cabinet. This was announced at Nine Zero by MQM leader Raza Haroon, following a key visit by Prime Minister Yousaf Raza Gilani.

Haroon said the decision to return to the government benches was taken in light of the state of crisis the nation is going through. Haroon said he hoped the government would come up with a plan to weed out and reduce corruption, and address the needs of the people.

He claimed that the party had “decided to sacrifice” itself again for the sake of democracy and join the government in view of the “deteriorating law and order situation and economic conditions of our people”.

Speaking on the occasion, Prime Minister Gilani said he spoke to MQM Chief Altaf Hussain on the telephone where he told the MQM chief that the government would like to work with the MQM on all major issues.

A visibly relieved prime minister said “We welcome the MQM decision and appreciate their sentiments for democracy in Pakistan and hope our association will last long in the larger interest of the people of Pakistan.”

“Through consensus, we withdrew the petrol price hike, which was one of the MQM’s principal demands… This is Pakistan’s first assembly to take all actions with consensus,” Gilani said.

With regards to the reformed general sales tax bill (RGST) Gilani said that he reassured Hussain that the government would not move forward on the bill without consensus. The prime minister invited Hussain and all parties to take part in formulating the RGST bill in order to ensure transparency in its finalisation and implementation.

Gilani and his aides were showered with rose petals upon arrival at the Pakistan headquarters of the Muttahida Qaumi Movement (MQM) — symbolically his first visit to the premises since becoming premier in 2008.

The MQM had walked out of government last Sunday, taking its 25 lawmakers on to the opposition benches. The move saw Gilani lose his majority in parliament and raised fears that his administration could be forced to call early elections.

In public, the party had attributed its decision to a hike in fuel prices and government failures to handle fiscal reform, corruption and inflation.

With the MQM lawmakers off the opposition benches and back on the treasury benches, Gilani leads a coalition that again controls a slender majority of around 185 seats in the 342-member lower house of parliament.

PM declines to take Swati back into cabinet

SAMAA


ISLAMABAD: Prime Minister Syed Yousuf Raza Gilani Tuesday declined to take sacked minister Azam Swati into the federal cabinet, saying he is willing to take other ministers from Jamiat-i-Ulema Islam (JUI-F).

According to sources, PM Gilani refused to take again the removed federal minister into the cabinet, saying the minister in question went against the discipline.

In return, Prime Minister offered Maulana Fazlur Rehman that he is geared up to take various other JUI-F ministers into the federal cabinet.

According to sources, the President House has ramped up their efforts to bring Maulana round thanks to the deadlock between PM and Maulana Fazl; hence, a meeting between President Asif Ali Zardari and JUI-F chief is expected soon.