ACCORDING to Minister for Information and Broadcasting Fawad Chaudhry and Special Assistant to Prime Minister on Special Communication Dr Shahbaz Gill, both Federal and Punjab cabinets would be expanded soon to give more representation to the allies of the ruling party and to reflect the huge population of the Punjab province.
The decision was obviously made after the brainstorming sessions of the PTI leadership in Islamabad and Lahore aimed at countering the no-confidence move of the opposition parties, forthcoming local government elections in Punjab and the need for strengthening the party structure in view of the evolving situation.
Cabinet expansion and reshuffle are prerogatives of the Prime Minister and the Chief Minister (concerned) and adjustments are routinely made to promote the objective of good governance.
The Prime Minister had a clear vision that the size of the cabinet should be small and this is in line with the overall thinking of the Government to check unnecessary administrative expenses.
The performance of the Government has not been as satisfactory as it should have been and, therefore, the changes should take care of weak points so that delivery is improved in coming months to send a positive message to the masses.
Media reports suggest that five ministers of state are to be inducted in the federal cabinet to relieve pressure of work on senior ministers to focus their attention on party affairs.
No doubt, the Government has to reorganize the party ahead of electoral battles but the real battle would be fought on the basis of performance and delivery and, therefore, the changes should be performance-oriented.
Similarly, it is also evident that political vulnerabilities force the Governments to compromise on principles in a bid to keep their coalition partners happy.
Smaller parties always remain on the look out to get a bigger piece of the pie and it seems the expected expansion of the cabinet has much to do with this desire of the coalition partners.
