By Mumtaz Alvi
ISLAMABAD: Raja Pervaiz Ashraf is still Minister for Water and Power, Dr Firdous Ashiq Awan heads the Ministry of Population Welfare and Syed Khurshid Shah is Minister for Labour and Manpower-courtesy the Official Web Gateway to the Government of Pakistan.
The jumbo cabinet, as referred to, even by the foreign media, had resigned on 9th February to pave the way for formation of a smaller cabinet, primarily to cut down expenses. Within 48 hours, a new cabinet, consisting of mostly old faces was administered the oath.
But quite surprisingly, since then, no one in the government has bothered to make changes on the website accordingly, though over two weeks have passed. The Ministry of Information Technology, which is responsible for the job, is being looked after by the head of the government since last month.The official website shows on the right of its homepage a photograph of the prime minister, of course, Yousuf Raza Gilani, and just beneath it, is a slug, indicating the names of ministers and the ministerial slots allotted to them a fortnight back. The left side gives detail about the ministries and divisions: federal ministers and ministers of state.
However, strangely, while some ministries have posted photographs of their ministers, majority are still to do that. For instance, Raja Pervaiz Ashraf continues to remain a minister on the website. This does not end here, as he is still the chairman of the controversy-plagued Alternative Energy Development Board (AEDB).
Likewise, although Dr Firdous Ashiq Awan is no more the minister for population welfare and she now leads the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting, but the official website has other facts to show on its page.
Khurshid Shah is now Minister for Religious Affairs. However, he still occupies the slot of minister for labour and manpower on the ministry’s website.
Ex-minister Shahid Bhutto also heads the Ministry of Youth, so does Pir Aftab Gilani, who was left out along with several others last month, is still minister for culture on the website.
The official government website boasts: “Our aim is to help public sector organisations in increasing efficiency, effectiveness and responsiveness with the use of information and communication technology. We are committed to build a robust e-government framework to make the government more responsive in delivering the public service to citizens and businesses. Major focus of e-government includes infrastructure development of government departments, implementation of wide area networks and maximum usage of technology in delivering public services.”
The official website says it has a section, Information and Services, that provides accurate information on government policies, programmes, services and activities, with a view to generating public support for these government policies, programmes, services and activities, thereby, creating the environment of mutual success.
Source: The News
Date:2/27/2011
