Murad elected new Sindh chief minister

The Sindh Assembly on Friday elected the ruling PPP's Syed Murad Ali Shah as new Sindh Chief Minister who set education, healthcare and law and order as his government's top priorities. Murad, who is the former Sindh Finance Minister, secured 88 votes and his main contender Khurrum Sher Zaman Khan of the PTI could bag three to succeed ex-CM, Qaim Ali Shah. Some 91 votes were cast out of a 168-seat house. Three opposition parties-MQM, PML-F and PML-N-abstained from the vote that widely left the PTI's candidate isolated.
The abstaining parties justified their indifference to the vote with their distrust in the ruling PPP government for 'poor governance'. "Public service is my aim," newly elected Chief Minister Sindh, Syed Murad Ali Shah told the Sindh Assembly after Speaker, Aga Siraj Khan Durrani declared him as new leader of the house. Syed Qaim Ali Shah escorted Murad to his seat and congratulated him to lead the PPP government to 2018 general election.
"My government's priority is public betterment, law and order, education and healthcare," he told the house minutes before he took oath at the Sindh Governor's House. He also appreciated the PTI contestant for the top government slot and thanked the treasury for electing him with a decisive vote. He assured the house that he had a plenty of talented lawmakers to form an efficient cabinet to ensure "a cleaner Karachi, a greener Thar and a safer Sindh". He asked the treasury and opposition for support to implement his development agenda to improve the outlook of the province.
Murad conceded that the province had a stockpile of problems, which needed solutions at the earliest. "There are problems but I want, let's work together for a cleaner Karachi, a greener Thar and a safer Sindh". He said that he would leave no stone unturned to ensure that every citizen in the province was secured and each new born baby was healthy.
The new CM Sindh also made it clear that he would not only make efforts to eradicate corruption in the province but also whatever negative impression the public had in mind about the government. He said the corruption was an old phenomenon existing before Pakistan came into being. He also claimed that he was the first Pakistan-born citizen to get elected as the CM Sindh.
With a clear warning to bureaucracy, he said he would give no concession to anyone on failures in carrying out their jobs and asked the government officials to adopt punctuality. He said he would have the least official protocols and would travel at a time when there would be less traffic on roads to avoid creating traffic hurdles for public. He vowed practicality in governance.
He assured the new PPP government would be minority friendly and would also focus on women's development and empowerment. "Corruption and perception of corruption will be seen vanishing," he told the opposition, and urged media to highlight both 'good and bad' issues to help him address problems efficiently.
He said there had been much left to do to lift the standards of education in public sector including scaling down the drop-out ratio, reopening some 6,000 schools and bringing 55 percent of children to schools. He said he would widely focus on prevention of diseases and work towards overhauling the healthcare system. Infrastructure development and appointment of efficient bureaucracy are his two ancillary priorities, according to him.
The opposition, however, showed reluctance to pin hopes on Syed Murad Ali Shah-led Sindh government, saying that the new CM was not independent to carry out meritorious execution of the policies to develop the province. The opposition lawmakers, though extended a complete support to the new CM, said that doubts on good governance were required to be dispelled with a practical approach.
The main contestant - Khurrum Sher Zaman - felicitated Murad to succeed to the CM's office but also enumerated scores of problems that were waiting to welcome the new chief executive in the province. He said the main opposition parties had left him isolated at poll, yet he showed courage to fight for the top slot. He said that his party was ready to support Murad to resolve the key social and economic issues.
He enumerated problems including education, healthcare and sanitation and asked the new chief executive to extend policing powers to Rangers with an unlimited jurisdiction across the province. He said that 40 percent of the public sector schools were shut and an equal percentage of employees was ghost teachers, dimming the poor students' future.
He said that 30,000 hepatitis B and C patients were in Sindh alone since potable water was impure. He said that corruption in the government departments, deteriorating law and order across the province and contaminated water were the other issues that the public had been facing. He asked the CM to offer remedies to the long-running public sector problems.
Muhammad Ismail Raho of PML-N congratulated Murad on his election but warned him of a multiple problems. He said that there were doubts in public minds whether the new CM would be able to bring a change with new practical policies to improve public sector image and provide relief to the people. "Despite distrust, we have to hope that the new CM will bring about a change in the province," he told the house and said that "the public has a strong impression that the Sindh government is being controlled by a remote control".
He raised questions whether the new CM would be able to appoint an efficient bureaucracy and select a cabinet of talented lawmakers to run the government, besides taking steps ensure a greater spending in a public sector development. He said that the CM would have to go through a tough ordeal to eradicate corruption and ensure rule of law. He said that some lawmakers from his party abstained from vote just on grounds that the change of face would make no difference in governance.
The outgoing CM Sindh, Syed Qaim Ali also congratulated his successor and hoped that his election would bring a positive change in the province. PPP's former Education Minister, Nisar Khuhro paid tribute to the former CM and congratulated the new one to lead the government. PTI's Samar Ali Khan and MQM's Syed Sardar Ahmed and opposition leader, Khawaja Izhar-ul-Hasan assured the new CM of their parties' support.
Swearing in: Governor Sindh, Dr Ishrat-ul-Ebad Khan administered the oath to the newly elected Chief Minister Sindh, Syed Murad Ali Shah at a ceremony held at the Governor's House. On the occasion, Chairman PPP, Bilawal Bhutto Zardari, former premiers Yousuf Raza Gilani and Raja Pervaiz Ashraf, Speaker Sindh Assembly, Aga Siraj Khan Durrani, DG Rangers, General Bilal Akbar, opposition leader in National Assembly, Khursheed Shah, Qamar Zaman Kaira, Faryal Talpur, and others were present.
Cabinet: The new cabinet is expected to take oath on Saturday (today) to run the government's different departments. Among the initial eight members cabinet, Nisar Khuhro, Mir Hazar Khan Bijarani and Manzoor Wasan are likely to take the ministerial portfolios.