Since the be­lat­ed an­nounce­ment of the Cab­i­net "re­con­fig­u­ra­tion" by the Prime Min­is­ter, there have been sev­er­al com­ments on pro­mo­tions and de­mo­tions. The size of the Cab­i­net has now bloat­ed to 36 min­is­ters, the largest ever in the his­to­ry of our na­tion.

As­sum­ing that each min­is­ter (with a slight dif­fer­ence in re­mu­ner­a­tion for ju­nior min­is­ters) re­ceives an av­er­age of $40,000 month­ly in salary and perks, tax­pay­ers now have to fork out $1.6 mil­lion month­ly or $19.2 mil­lion an­nu­al­ly to cov­er this salary bill.

In my opin­ion, pro­mo­tions and de­mo­tions are re­al­ly a pinch of salt in an en­vi­ron­ment of scarce and com­pet­ing re­sources. So it does not mat­ter to me whether a min­is­ter strad­dles Wa­ter Re­sources or Na­tion­al Di­ver­si­ty. What mat­ters is the cry­ing out for val­ue for mon­ey and trans­paren­cy by thou­sands of cit­i­zens.

Reza Abasali

El So­cor­ro