LASHKARGAH (PAN): A Wolesi Jirga member on Wednesday said lower house members influenced 80 percent of appointments to government posts, a practice that violated merit and fair play.    
Legislator Habiba Sadat said in an exclusive interview with Pajhwok Afghan News that a number of MPs insisted on the appointments of individuals without considering their eligibility.
Without naming anyone, she alleged the Wolesi Jirga members were mounting inordinate pressure on local officials and cabinet ministers to recruit people of their choice.
The lawmakers from Helmand are no exception, pushing for the appointment of their near and dear ones to provincial government departments, according to Sadat, who blasted the MPs for doing illegal things to retain their clout.
She added the people thus hired were asked to meet illegal demands of the legislators.  The culture of merit and competence was compromised as a result, she complained.
The situation would remain unchanged until the law was equally applied to all people, Sadat said, currently only the poor were required to meet legal formalities and other conditions.
On the contrary, warlords and other mighty men were getting away with brazen corruption and usurpation of people’s rights, the MP alleged.
She asked the Afghan government, especially President Hamid Karzai, to intensify efforts at improving the situation and the enforcing law in letter and spirit.