Personal Marketing at Public Expense Omar Moeen Malik I would like to bring to the attention of the Chief Minister of Sindh, a full page advertisement taken out in the Express Tribune and the Dawn on Sunday, the 8th September 2013 by Mr. Sharjeel Memon, the Sindh Minister for Information. The purpose of this advertisement was to congratulate President Zardari on completing his term and highlight his achievements while in office. There was no earthly reason to issue this advertisement other than the fact that the Minister felt entitled to squandering taxpayers’ money to please his party chairman, possibly hoping to seek future political benefits. I would like the Chief Minister of Sindh to take strict action against the said Minister for using his office and taxpayers’ money to take out this advertisement. If the Minister felt such compulsive obligation to please his boss, he should have performed this act of obsequiousness with his own funds and not burdened the state exchequer. Please note that the approximate cost of this advertisement was not less than Rs. 1,000,000. If I pay Rs. 10,000 in taxes every month, it would mean that the taxes I have paid for 100 months or nearly 10 years were used up by this individual in one go, on one day, in one newspaper. So for all those who believe this to be a very small issue amongst the bigger issues in this country, I assure you, this was one of the biggest crimes committed against the people of Pakistan today. The minister should be made to refund this amount to the Government immediately and also made to issue a public apology for the misappropriation of state funds. The President himself should feel ashamed of such party members and such illegal attempts at gratification. One of the first tasks of Mr. Nawaz Sharif on taking over as the Prime Minister was to prohibit the misuse of taxpayers’ money on such petty self projections. Will someone please remind him to act on his small promises and rid this country of those who believe in “personal marketing at public expense”.
Posted on: Sun, 08 Sep 2013 10:28:07 +0000
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