SWAT - The Khyber Pakhtunkhwa government has not given weightage to the promise made by the Pakistan Tehrik-e-Insaf (PTI) during 2013 electioneering that no MNA and MPA of the party would be given funds for execution of development projects rather its parliamentarians would only play the role of lawmakers.
The information gathered by The Nation revealed that all MNAs and MPAs of PTI in KP were given huge funds for different development projects by the provincial government.
According to an official document, the KP Finance Department released Rs204.8 million only to Swat’s parliamentarians of PTI. The document further showed that MPA Fazal Hakim (PK-80) received Rs30,000,000, MPA Azizullah Khan received Rs48,000,000, MPA Dr Amjad Ali received Rs30,000,000, MPA Muhibullah Khan received Rs30,000,000, MPA Mahmood Khan Rs30,000,000, MPA Syed Jafar Shah received Rs10,000,000, MPA Dr Haider Ali Khan received Rs10,000,000, MNA Murad Saeed received Rs20,000,000, MNA Saleem Ur Rehman received Rs20,000,000, MPA Nadia Sher Khan received Rs10,000,000 and Yasmin Pir Muhammad Khan also received Rs10,000,000.
The allocation of these funds raised many questions about Imran Khan’s promise which he made with the people of Pakistan during his election campaign in 2013. Imran Khan on different occasions had made it clear that funds would be given for provision of basic facilities to people on need-to-need basis and would not be put at the discretion of lawmakers.
The media also highlighted such announcements and people were expecting the PTI government in KP would set a good example for bringing about a change in the old political culture and would stop wasting government funds on the pretext of development works.
However, they were disappointed as the KP government did pay any attention to the promises made by PTI Chief Imran Khan.
While reacting, PTI MNA Murad Saeed said, “I accept my government’s flaw but the process of development works is quite different from the past. In the past governments, MNAs and MPAs used to take kickbacks from contractors for given them contracts of uplift projects but the PTI government changed this culture as no MNA or MPA can get any kickback in awarding contracts.”