After more than three months of delay, President Ashraf Ghani in concurrence with Chief Executive Abdullah Abdullah and their deputies at last agreed on nominees for the cabinet and they also appeared in front of Parliament to present their plans for their proposed positions. However, out of 24 nominees, only 18 got the permission to present their priorities to the Wolesi Jirga while the rest were barred from speaking to the assembly for having dual nationality.
The 18 nominees who presented their plans and priorities only 8 got the approval from the MPs while the rest were rejected as they could not acquire 50% + 1 votes. The session of the assembly that approved the 8 nominees and rejected others comprised of 243 lawmakers who were present in the lower house on January 28.
The 8 approved candidates include Rahmatullah Nabil as the NDS Chief, who got 154 votes - he had previously served as Acting Intelligence Chief; Noorul Haq Ulumi as Interior Minister, who bagged 131 votes; Aklil Hakimi as Finance Minister, who received 128 votes in his favor; Salahuddin Rabbani as Foreign Affairs Minister, who acquired 151 votes; Ferozuddin Feroz as Public Health Minister, who got the highest number of votes – 170; Syed Hussain Alami Balkhi received 134 votes in his favor as Minister of Refugees Affairs; Daud Shah Saba confirmed his position as Minister of Mines by bagging 146 votes; Eng. Naseer Ahmad Durrani acquired 145 votes as Minister of Rural Rehabilitation; and Faiz Mohammad Osmani as Haj and Religious Affairs Minister by getting 160 votes.
While the other 10 nominees – Gen Sher Mohammad Karimi nominee for Defense Minister, Barna Karimi nominee for Minister of Communications and Information Technology, Zarlmai Younusi Education Portfolio nominee, Khathira Afghan the Higher Education Minister nominee, Rahman Oghli Economy Minister nominee, Abbas Basir nominee for Public Works Minister, Faizullah Zaki nominee for Minister of Transportation, Qamarudding Shinwari Borders and Tribal Affairs nominee, and Sardar Mohammad Rahimi nominee for Minister of Commerce and Industries could not get the required votes.
Now that only 8 of the total 24 nominees have been selected, a tiring process may follow and there are fears that again there would be delays and discussions in selecting new nominees and introducing them to the parliament. President and Chief Executive along with their deputies may once again involve in disagreements and the process may further get delayed, which will affect the functioning of the cabinet, which should have been formed by now and should have been working for the service of the people.
Afghanistan is one of the countries where efficiency is greatly required. It requires a cabinet that is functional and able to perform quickly and without delays. Different ministries must start working as soon as possible as delays have already cost them much. The prevailing insecurity in the country and even in the capital Kabul is largely because different ministries have leadership vacuum and do not have the capacity to make decisions and change the scenario. Another long process of selecting nominees may further hamper the formation of the cabinet and thus of the ministries.
On the other hand the MPs must also consider the requirements for the selection of better candidates for different ministries. The selection must not be based on their political considerations and they must cast their votes free of any sort of biasness and ethnic considerations. Unfortunately, in the first round of selection the neutrality and considerations for merit were not fully taken care of by some of the parliamentarians and their votes were based on ethnic sentiments and political lobbying.
It is an important aspect of democracy that the elections and selections should be based on meritocracy. MPs must never forget that their votes for the members of the cabinet are a responsibility that the nation has given to them. It is by dint of the votes of the people that they are in such a position; therefore, they should leave no stone unturned in making sure that their decisions are based on meritocracy and does not drag the country towards ethnic conflicts and disorder.
President Ashraf Ghani has hailed the decision of the parliament and has promised that the replacements to the rejected nominees would be soon announced but promises alone would not be enough. Actions have to be taken on urgent basis and the new nominees must be named without any further delay as it has already been a never ending and tiring process.
Afghan people want to see a functional cabinet as soon as possible. They had gone through miseries and voted in the election so that their desires and dreams of democracy should be turned into reality and a government should be formed that can provide them the services they deserve.