Mr Shaukat Aziz, the new prime minister,
has, with some delay and a lot of backroom political wrangling,
managed to complete the first phase of his cabinet formation.
With 32 full ministers sworn in so far it is already a
big cabinet. But if reports are anything to go by, a few
other full ministers are yet to come and they will be
in addition to nearly 25 or so state ministers and four
or five advisors to be notified in the next two or three
phases. The number of Mr Aziz’s ministerial flock
is, therefore, likely to swell to nearly 60. Even in a
house of 342 members this is anything but the “lean,
mean, efficient” cabinet we thought Mr Aziz had
in mind.
In all fairness, perhaps Mr Aziz is not
to blame for this ministerial groundswell. We have reason
to believe that he did not have much role to play in these
inductions. He sits atop an unwieldy political coalition
and has to distribute the bones to every partner, big
and small, in order to retain their support. His personal
desire to have a sinewy cabinet that could work efficiently
and deliver on the promise of economic progress and good
governance has made shipwreck on the rocks of political
expediency. This was one of the reasons for the delay.
Political insiders say in tandem with the presidency the
entire exercise was carried out by former interim prime
minister and Q-League president, Chaudhry Shujaat Hussain.
Lists were prepared and approved by Mr Hussain who, unlike
Mr Aziz, has played this game for a long time and is adept
at it. The breakaway faction of the Pakistan People’s
Party was the worst offender. Even as the faction was
pining for more ministerial slots, it split into two grabbing
groups. But accommodating the groups was important not
only because they give the necessary headcount to the
government to survive but also because its members have
publicly supported General Pervez Musharraf on the uniform
issue. In the end Mr Aziz, the technocrat, had to give
in to Mr Hussain, the politician.
The moral of the story, however, is clear
— and disturbing. The kind of dispensation General
Musharraf has had to put together to keep the genuine
political parties in the wilderness runs contrary to his
vision of a clean and neat government. The contradiction
becomes even more glaring when we realise that General
Musharraf brought in Mr Aziz, who has no political experience,
primarily because he is expected to deliver. But while
Mr Aziz may be a good manager it is stretching the point
to expect him to perform miracles. The kind of cabinet
he has got is not the team Mr Aziz would have liked to
lead and in whose selection he has virtually no input.
The indicators have not been right from
the time Mr Aziz was elected to the house. The Opposition
candidate, PMLN’s Javed Hashmi, was not allowed
to come to the house and supervise his election and cast
his own vote. This forced the Opposition to boycott the
election, the first in the history of Pakistan. The event
cast a shadow on the proceedings and clearly indicated
that Mr Aziz will not have much room to manoeuvre. The
cabinet selection further adds to that feeling.
