Another week has passed, and President Ashraf Ghani is no closer to announcing a cabinet and ending political uncertainty.
Growing insecurity and the lack of confidence in ministries led by acting ministers has started to sour people’s views of the president.
Another week has passed, and President Ashraf Ghani is no closer to announcing a cabinet and ending political uncertainty.
Growing insecurity and the lack of confidence in ministries led by acting ministers has started to sour people’s views of the president. “The president should first form his cabinet and then go out of the country,” says Kabul resident Abdul Wadood. Ashraf Ghani was in Islamabad last week, and before that in Saudi Arabia and China. “People’s work is delayed since (previous president) Karzai’s ministers are the acting ministers, and no work is getting done,” he adds.
Wadood who is a contractor says when he goes to government offices “no one is available. Officers are absent; when there is no manager or supervisor the junior staff do no work, and there is no one to check”.
Afghans want sweeping changes in the system. They want “new people” in power. “The former people (members of the previous government) have been tested. It is clear as a mirror that they worked for their own benefits,” says political watcher Zabihullah. “Only those who were not in the previous cabinet should be made ministers.”
Meanwhile, the government is not revealing a word about what is behind the delay in announcing the cabinet. Rashed Bakhshi, a civil society activist and political science graduate is not surprised. He thinks it is a sign of serious differences between the two alliances in the national unity government: Ashraf Ghani’s Change and Continuity and Abdullah Abdullah’s Reform and Unanimity. “There were tensions prior to and during the elections,” he asserts. “The political mafia are holding hostage the cabinet and people’s destiny,” he observes.
The national unity government cannot postpone the formation of a cabinet for much longer without seriously damaging its credibility.
Ahmad Omed, writer and civil society activist, says the delay in announcing a council of ministers will go down as President Ghani’s first black-mark. There is some disappointment that the president was hasty in promising to announce a cabinet in 45 days without thinking through the tough task at hand of balancing differences with his partners in the government. “It seemed sort of impossible the president would be able to keep his promise and meet the deadline,” says Omed. “The president announced a deadline without considering the tough political situation and obstacles in the way.”
Even members of parliament (MPs) think the situation intractable. “The current government is an acting government, there is a power vacuum,” comments Gul Padsha Majidi, MP from Paktia. “We hope our leaders can put together a cabinet as soon as possible so they can get the vote and trust of the people and serve them. Meanwhile, people’s problems are growing daily. Also problems of security,” he adds.
Tough task
Both the president and chief executive have promised a cabinet would be announced soon. A selection committee of delegates representing the two sides – of 10 members each –that was set up to hammer out an agreement on the division of power, has reportedly stopped meeting.
Asadullah Sadati, a selection committee member representing President Ghani, says the team supporting Chief Executive Abdullah wants power to be divided equally between the two sides, which he maintains is contrary to the political agreement between the two leaders.
“They (Abdullah’s team) wanted to discuss all appointments including ministers, to embassies, provinces, deputy ministers … but we said this can be done for key ministries, and for other offices there should be partnership and consultation,” says Sadati.
According to him, the problem is the lack of understanding on the definition of what constitutes a key ministry or important office. While the Ghani team counts only four ministries including finance and economy as key – the ministers have to win the trust vote in Parliament – Abdullah’s team has 10 offices on the list.
Abdul Satar Murad, who represented the Abdullah team in the selection committee, says two-thirds of problems between the two sides have been sorted out. “Agreement on two-thirds of the cabinet has taken place. But ministries such as rural rehabilitation, water and energy, mines and industry may be finalised in a scheduled meeting between the president and the chief executive,” he says adding, “People, want the whole cabinet finalised.”
Once the list is finalised it will be introduced in Parliament. No date has been officially announced, but there were reports ministers for the four key ministries would be announced before the London conference on Dec 4.
Powerful lobbies
No doubt both the president and the chief executive have to first placate powerful lobbies before cobbling together a council of ministers. Political expert Tareq Serosh believes it is the “main challenge”. “The main challenge in introducing the cabinet is that supporters of the two leaders want positions for the political effort they put in during the election campaign,” he says.
Even as supporters of the two alliances have pinned the delay on efforts to find the most suitable candidates, it is clear that cabinet formation is being held hostage to the interests of the political wheeler-dealers.
Nooria Alami, a civil society activist, is doubtful if Ghani and Abdullah can keep promises to string together a cabinet of people chosen solely on the basis of merit and professional qualifications.
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