By Omar Ahmed Ali
It seems that the bone of contention delaying the naming of the Cabinet is not the size of the cabinet but the influence some of the dockets have. For instance, State Minister for National Heritage and any other minister is very much different in terms of executive authority and influence in the managing or overseeing of budgetary funds and parastatals. No matter what changes are made, the fact shall always remain that some ministries will always remain influential and powerful than others.
This phenomenon exists everywhere around the world. For instance, in the United States, the Secretary of State is more influential than say secretary of the interior. And in the United Kingdom, the Chancellor of Exchequer is more influential than the foreign secretary and on it goes.
It is against this backdrop that in our case, the Ministers of Finance, National Security and Foreign Affairs are more influential than say those managing Health, Labour or Social Services dockets. But, something can be done to increase the influence of the not so “influential portfolios’ by reducing the size of the Cabinet and merging some ministries to make them stronger and or influential. My suggestion for the two principals is for them to genuinely agree to trim the size of the Cabinet to twenty five plus the Office of the Attorney-General.
I have even come up with those twenty five ministries that could be established and they should perhaps be entrenched in the constitution through an appropriate amendment.
First things first — the President, Vice-President and Prime Minister, should not have any cabinet dockets in their respective offices. The President as the head of state and the Head of the Government doesn’t need to have ministers in his office, because in reality all ministers operate under his office.
The Vice-President as the president’s principal assistant and the Leader of Government Business in the National Assembly has a lot in his plate and should not be given any ministerial responsibilities. The Prime Minister’s office bestowed with the responsibility to manage and coordinate Government functions and ministries will be too busy to be bogged down to a cabinet portfolio. My advice is that the country doesn’t necessarily need to have “ministers of states” in the respective offices of the President, Prime Minister and the Vice President. Use the term “minister of state” for assistant ministerial position as is used elsewhere in the world.
The two deputy premiers need not be given very influential ministerial responsibilities as their posts’ are already influential. My suggestion would be that the two deputy premiers be given the following cabinet dockets:
- Deputy Premier (& Minister for Regional Development)
- Deputy Premier (& Minister for Special Programmes)
With those two ministries taken care of, the country could then have the following cabinet portfolios which would all have close to influence and power.
The twenty three ministries should be as follows:
- Defence
- Education
- Cabinet Affairs
- Home Affairs
- Foreign Affairs
- Health & Welfare
- Water & Irrigation
- Local Government
- Energy & Mining
- Tourism & Wildlife
- Trade & Industry
- Labour & Public Service
- Transport & Communications
- Youth Affairs, Culture & Sports
- Justice & Constitutional Affairs
- Finance & Economic Planning
- Environment & Natural Resources
- Information, Science & Technology
- Roads & Public Works
- Marketing & Cooperative Development
- Agriculture & Livestock Development
- Lands, Housing & Urban Development
- National Security & Provincial Administration
- Office of the Attorney General
National Heritage and Immigration departments should revert back to their original Home Affairs ministry. Registrations of Persons back to the Attorney-General Chambers, Fisheries department revert back to the Wildlife and Natural Resources its former parent ministry. East African Cooperation affairs to be handled by the Foreign Affairs docket.
The above 25 cabinet dockets (including those under the two deputy premiers) will be strong and equally powerful and influential as they can ever be.
Each ministry should have one assistant minister except the two premiers who do not needs deputies in their two respective offices.In addition with the “light” ministerial duties, the two DPMs will always be available in the event that the presence of a full cabinet minister is required or is needed in the absence of the substantive minister. In addition assistant ministers or ministers of state should be empowered to deputize in the absence of their respective ministers.
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SUNDAY TIMES
April, 13, 2009
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