Clarity finally emerged on the final shape that this government would take on Monday when the federal cabinet was sworn in and Muhammad Aurangzeb, until that morning CEO and President of HBL, was welcomed to the finance ministry as its resident federal minister.
The 19-member cabinet that will aid and assist Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif had been announced a day earlier. It was a relief only seeing 19 names on the list after Mr Sharif’s previous cabinet which had swelled to 87 members of which 41 were Special Assistants to the Prime Minister and a mind-bending 37 were appointed as Federal Ministers.
Because of the relatively lean cabinet this time around it was pretty clear that most of the old portfolios would stick with their previous occupants. Senator Musadiq Malik has been tapped for the power ministry for example and Ahsan Iqbal is expected to take over the planning commission once again. At the same time there are some new faces. The brash but loyal Attaullah Tarrar is expected to become information minister and Mohsin Naqvi will likely become minister for interior and leave his short-lived gig as Chairman of the PCB.
The only portfolio that has really seen shuffling is the finance ministry where Mr Aurangzeb will be taking over while his predecessor will go to the foreign ministry. There is a tall task in front of the seasoned banker. In his time at HBL Mr Aurangzeb steadied the ship after the bank’s disaster in New York and has been a steadying influence on the overall banking sector of the country.
With a competent man in the economy’s driving seat, Mr Sharif should feel secure that his second stint as PM might be less chaotic as the first. But as prime minister, he must also move on from his previous stint. In his address to his new cabinet, the new chief executive of the country said that the previous government’s biggest achievement was saving the country from default. He is correct enough. But he must reflect on how Pakistan got so close to default in the first place.
There is a lot riding on this government, particularly its core economic team. It is imperative that Mr Aurangzeb be allowed to run things the way he sees fit aided by decisive actions and decision making by the prime minister. To do that he must let the past be the past and focus on the task ahead.
