SHILLONG, JAN 18: Spokesperson of the MDA government and cabinet minister Ampareen Lyngdoh on Thursday said it is incorrect to think that political appointments are mere political appeasement activities by the government.
Speaking to reporters, Lyngdoh said, “We have as a government to be able to take expert advice from various non-governmental individuals on various matters and as this has been the convention and practice, I do not understand how any other government whether in the past or whether in the future can deviate from this practice.”
The opposition Voice of the People Party (VPP) had recently demanded withdrawal of all political appointments.
She said, “It is a good practice because as we have seen we are able to continue to seek advice, seek necessary work from individuals that have proven to be able to advise government on several matters, be it education, be it health, be it roads and public works, be it PHE, be it in any other department, whether it’s sports, whether it is arts and culture, government requires these bodies to be formed that are all contributing positively to the growth of the state and the correct advisories for the government in the interest of the public.”
She also added, “There is nothing that is not in practice that this government has followed and I believe that the government while doing this, is very well informed and knows what it is doing and I am sure that all of these assignments given to citizens of the state of Meghalaya all have one focus in mind and that is give governance that is going to be good and that is going developing the state in the right direction.”
The cabinet minister said that only time will tell whether there will be any government in the future which will be able to stay away from such appointments. She added that the point here is that while debating it is always good to debate, the government should also be aware of the feelings of various political parties around us on several matters.