Vacant positions in IT ministry are hurting its performance?

The federal government of Pakistan after a delay of several days has appointed Shoaib Ahmad Siddiqui as Secretary Information Technology and Telecommunications (IT&T), but there are still many other key positions in the ministry that are still vacant and have been for a while and are hurting the IT ministry’s performance.

The notification of the posting was shared by the Cabinet Secretariat/Establishment Division, stating that Shoaib Ahmad Siddiqui, a BS-22 officer of Pakistan Administrative Service currently serving as Secretary Communications Division will be transferred and will begin his services as Secretary Information Technology and Telecommunication Division with immediate effect.

Previously, Maroof Afzal was serving as a secretary IT&T but was transferred and posted as cabinet division secretary by the federal government on May 23, 2019. Since his transfer the position was vacant and no one was performing the duties of the secretary.

According to some local media reports, there are several key positions in the Ministry of Information Technology and Telecommunications (MoIT) that are still vacant. Those include the position for Member Legal, which has been vacant for a year, the position of Member Telecom, empty since March 2019, and the positions for Director Telecom Wireless and Director Telecom are also lying vacant.

Furthermore, the position for Deputy Secretary and three Section officers are also awaiting members for a long time. The ministry’s official sources revealed that the IT&T ministry hires two kinds of officers which include regular and MP scale (technical/professional cadre). On the regular side, the officers considered for hire are from the Establishment Division, and the sources say that the hiring process of MP positions have been initiated and they will finalize candidates shortly.

The details clearly reveal that due to slow recruitment process the important positions in the ministry lie vacant and therefore the MoIT’s performance is not up to the mark. This also puts a question mark on the government as to why they have not been paying attention to such an important ministry of Pakistan and who should be held accountable?