For two years the Cabinet has been hamstrung by Parliament’s rejection of Karzai’s nominees. However, the president has submitted the same names again. Why?
A defiant President Hamid Karzai has forwarded to Parliament names of nine Cabinet ministers he has appointed without parliamentary permission. Five of the nominees were on a list of 17 rejected by lawmakers two years ago.
In February 2010 the lower house had turned down 17 of Karzai’s 24 nominees, including a powerful warlord and the country’s only woman minister. An undeterred Karzai retained five of the rejected nominees as acting Cabinet ministers – a decision that has been challenged in a lawsuit. It was widely believed that the appointments were made under the influence of power brokers, and Karzai would come out with a new list of names of qualified professionals.
Mohammad Eshaq Fayaz, a writer and political analyst, observes: “Considering the previous setback in Parliament Karzai would have been proceeding with caution. The representatives of people (in Parliament) can judge the nominated ministers on the basis of their performance (for the last two years).”
In his opinion there were “qualified” nominees in the list submitted to Parliament in 2010 but they “became victims of the internal tribal and political fanaticism inside Parliament.”
Five of those from the 2010 list sent to Minister of Parliamentary Affairs Humayun Azizi are:
Mohammad Ismael Khan, minister of energy and water
Daud Ali Najafi, minister of transport
Soraya Dalil, minister of public health
Husn Bano Ghazanfar, minister of women’s affairs
Amirzai Sangin, minister of communications
The new nominees:
Obaidullah Obaid, minister of higher education
Wais Barmak, minister of rural rehabilitation and development
Najibullah Ozhan, minister of public works
Hassan Abdullahi, minister of urban development and housing.
Habibullah Rafee, a political analyst, believes Karzai has shown his “unsuccessful governance” by repeating “past mistakes and reintroducing names rejected by Parliament”.
He says, “Karzai’s Cabinet has not been able to deliver … ministers have been picked for considerations other than professionalism like representing the nation’s ethnic factions. The government has not delivered required services to people.”
Sayed Hussein Alemi Balkhi, member of Parliament (MP), says: “Though there are many qualified people in the country the president still appoints ministers because of political compulsions.”
Will Parliament support the president?
Fatima Aziz, MP, says: “Parliament does not have a consensus on the nine proposed ministers. There is a possibility that Parliament may pass the vote of trust on partisan considerations.”
“It is up to the representatives of people in Parliament to decide how they will judge the nominated ministers. For me there are no higher criteria than capability and competence.”
She has strong views on who she will support. “I don’t want to examine (scrutinise) nominees who have been examined once, and found lacking. I will not give my vote to those who cannot spend their budget or don’t accomplish their duties properly. The representatives of people have a responsibility to vote for skill and competence.”
Mir Ahmad Joyenda, political analyst, thinks Karzai has time and again “unfortunately” sided with people “who have always failed and were related to powerful people … these are his partners in government.” He says ministers are more committed to preserving power. Some nominees have not spent 40 percent of their development budgets, he points out. According to other observers, this is a sign of lack of commitment to people.
Nazari Paryani, writer and chief editor of Mandegar newspaper, says: “For 10 years Karzai has depended on the same Cabinet colleagues. It is no different from the policy of the communist regime when government posts were the monopoly of party leaders. The Taleban also distributed important posts among those they trusted. For instance a mullah from Helmand could be head of culture in Mazar-e-Sharif.”
Paryani views Karzai’s appointment of acting ministers as anti-law. “The law stipulates that when a minister is not confirmed by Parliament he cannot be inducted.”
