A change was on the cards. Given the country’s economic woes, something had to give. Prime Minister Imran Khan has finally revealed his hand. The first casualty is Asad Umer. Mr Umer has tweeted: “As part of a cabinet reshuffle, Prime Minister desired that I take the energy portfolio instead of finance. However, I have obtained his consent to not take any cabinet position.”
So Mr Umer is no more a minister. In mature parliamentary democracies, a cabinet shuffle or a few transfers in the civil service do not make headlines. When someone is not performing well, or not seen to be performing well, they are replaced. There was something bizarre, however, in Mr Umar’s case. Information Minister Fawad Hussain tweeted three days ago to deny reports of changes in the cabinet. The minister said the country was passing through a critical phase and that such rumours tended to alarm the public and were therefore detrimental to national interest.
The finance minister was then negotiating a bailout package with the International Monetary Fund. He was also working on an amnesty scheme for tax evaders which has reportedly divided the cabinet.
The fact is that since its very inception, the Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf government has been criticized for its poor economic show. It has also been criticized for going after the parliamentary opposition using the National Accountability Bureau. While the opposition leaders moved courts to get relief, the public at large was under mounting economic pressure often blamed on the finance minister. While some of the problems, including the rising fuel prices, were directly related to international markets, the government, in general, and the minister, in particular, never tried to explain the causes to the public. Instead, the minister always chose to either blame his predecessor for his problems or be content with painting a rosy picture of the future.
The prime minister deserves support in his decision. It had to be a hard decision for the PTI to move out somebody they had been projecting for years as an economic wizard. His replacement should be picked carefully. Frequent changes in key positions have some undesirable side effects. For its part the Punjab government has already had four inspectors general of police. If picking the right person for every job is what the leadership vision is about, such frequent changes do not inspire confidence. *