Editor in Chief: Moh. Reza Huwaida Friday, March 29th, 2024

Cabinet Nominees and Deadlock

The Government has after all introduced the cabinet nominees. Vice President Karim Khalili read the names of several nominees who have been serving as acting-ministers for more than two years. They include: Ismail Khan, Amirzai Sangin, Dr. Soraya Dalil, Dr. Hasan Banu Ghazanfar and Daud Ali Najafi for ministries of Water and Energy, Telecommunication and Information Technology, Public Health, Women Affairs and Transport and Civil Aviation.

The new nominations for other ministries include Wais Ahmad Barmak, Hassan Abdul Hai, Eng. Najibullah Awjan, Dr. Obaidullah Obaid for ministries of Higher Education, Rehabilitation and Rural Development, Urban Development and Public Works.

The nominees will appear before the parliament on Monday and Tuesday to present their portfolios and receive vote of confidence from the house.

Five of these nominees have been working as acting-ministers for the last two years. They have been rejected by the previous parliament thrice. There are many capable people who can best serve on the basis of merit and competency, but nepotism, tribal political culture and the trend grounded by President Karzai of depending on pressure-groups and pursuing the politics of appeasement has set a very bad example for the very founding years of our new-born democratic system.

Nothing can be said of the new nominees. Last year after introducing his cabinet, President Karzai had tough times getting his ministerial nominees approved from parliament. It took three slots of nominations, but the same people coming again and again were rejected consecutively by the lower house. A similar episode might be repeated on Monday and Tuesday. But we have also seen much unexpected happenings in this parliament.
According to law, an acting minister cannot run office for more than a month, and a nominee rejected from parliament cannot serve as acting. Acting ministers are appointed at a time of emergency or crisis when there is no parliament or other administrative hurdles in the system. But we had not such circumstances.

It has been a clear violation of constitution by the very Presidential Palace, which blames foreigners for interference in our constitutional implementation, and accuses the opposition figures of violating it when they criticize poor governance and rampant corruption. It's unbelievable how the rulers have made a mess of the system with no regard for constitution and rule of law.

It has been disappointing that members of the Committee for Oversight and Implementation of the Constitution have also kept a blind eye to this mockery of the system and rule of law by Presidential Palace.

Last year when the parliamentary elections were held, there was a long stalemate between the government and parliament. President Karzai forced the Election Commission to dismiss election results because the opposition forces had majority in the lower house and they could create serious administrative troubles for President Karzai, episodes of which we saw in rejection of his cabinet members repetitively.

During the parliamentary crisis, when President Karzai ordered establishment of that pity elections Special Court for allegations of fraud in elections, the acting-ministers faced no question of legitimacy on their unconstitutional service as the Palace had hijacked the inauguration of parliament with the crisis.

Besides the fact that President has always ignored the parliament, there are huge internal problems inside the lower house. Recently there was a deadlock in parliament on the issue of election of their Administrative Board. Following a ridiculous round of blank votes, there was a conflict among MPs about the vote-of-confidence for Interior and Finance ministers.
We hope the MPs will look the nominees beyond the lens of tribal political affiliations and consider their capability and efficiency.