Another amendment?

Laying the groundwork for the 27th Amendment

Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif’s call on President Asif Zardari covered a lot of ground, but perhaps the most important part of the meeting was where Mr Sharif asked Mr Zardari to support him in passing the 27th Amendment ti the Constitution. However, Mr Zardari did not agree to provide the requisite support, saying that it had to pass the PPP central committee, and then it would have to be discussed with  other parties. It was implied, though not mentioned, that Mr Sharif could not amend the Constitution at will, needing to build coalitions that would give him two-third majorities in both Houses. It must be noted that, though the government has a simple majority on its side, it required the support of the PPP, the MQM and other smaller parties to carry out the amendment.

The contents of the 27th Amendment are not known, and thus cannot form part of any meaningful debate, whether within the public at large or within any particular party. So far, what has been gathered is that fecderation-province relations are to be the main theme, with an undoing of the 18th Amendment contemplated, under which the Constitution was cleansed of its accretions, and the concurrent list was abolished. The passage of the 24th Amendment is still counted as one of the highlights of the 2013-2018 PPP government, when Mr Zardari was first President. There are indications that the new amendment may roll back the complete devolution of poers in health and education to the provinces. One of the problem areas for ‘federalists’ has been the guarantee that the provincial share of the federal divisible pool would not be reduced. Though it was apparently not mentioned at the President-PM meeting, it would be a bone of contention. It has already proved an intractable problem in the National Finance Commission, where the federal government is not finding its way to bypassing the issue, mainly as the provinces resist.

Mr Zardari has also apparently argued that there is no need for an amendment, with the 26th only recently passed, and wants the matter put off until after the budget. One possibility for the current government is that Mr Zardari is interested in bringing his son Bilawal forward in an enhanced role. That might be the price he will extract for giving the support of his party for further changes in the Constitution.