Information Minister Attaullah Tarar on Monday sharply criticised the expansion in the Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa (K-P) Cabinet, alleging there was no governance in the province with rampant corruption and financial mismanagement in the administration.

The K-P Cabinet was expanded last week with the induction of six new ministers, four new advisers and eight special assistants, taking the total strength of the provincial cabinet to 31 members.

With the expansion, the number of ministers, including Chief Minister Sohail Afridi, rose to 17, while the number of advisers stood at six. This exceeded the constitutional ceiling set under Article 130 of the Constitution, which limits the number of ministers to 15 and advisers to five.

In a post on X today, Tarar said: “There is no such thing as governance in K-P. Corruption and mismanagement are at their peak. Lavish expenses are being incurred, and public money is being spent on politics.”

He also questioned the expansion of the provincial cabinet, suggesting that the appointment of ministers and advisers was based solely on political loyalty. “ Apart from incompetence, there is no other criterion for selecting these ministers and advisers,” he said.

He further criticised the government’s track record over the past 12 years. “Provincial affairs have never been this poor,” Tarar added.

The expansion summary, approved by Afridi, was forwarded to provincial Governor Faisal Karim Kundi on Friday. The governor signed and returned the summary, clearing the way for the new members to take the oath today at the Governor’s House.

The decision came nearly seven months after Afridi assumed office. Following the resignation of former chief minister Ali Amin Gandapur in October last year, Afridi was elected as the new leader of the house.

He initially formed a lean 14-member cabinet after failing to secure a meeting with the party’s founding chairman for broader consultations. He had planned to expand the cabinet later, following consultation, but the meeting could not materialise.

Party leadership and pressure from Members of the Provincial Assembly eventually forced the chief minister to go for the expansion.

Differences within Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) surfaced shortly after the expansion, with several party leaders and lawmakers expressing strong displeasure over being overlooked.

Sources said the decision was taken following consultations with the party’s founder chairman, though the meeting with the chairman did not materialise before the announcement.

The announcement triggered immediate backlash from party members who felt sidelined. Notably, the cabinet largely avoided including unelected personalities, with only Muzzammil Aslam reportedly making it as an exception.

The cabinet expansion has highlighted growing regional and factional fissures within the PTI in K-P.