In a report submitted to the government, the review commission has suggested that the Prime Minister's Office (PMO) be shuttered down to cut back on government expenses. In conjunction with it, the PERC recommended that the number of ministers be reduced from 38 to 22 which would help curtail the expenditure substantially. Ever since the BNP-led coalition government inducted the unwieldy cabinet it has been a subject-matter of strident criticism from all corners. It drew the donors' flak much the same way that the country's development planners and civil society leaders called for a drastic lessening of the cabinet size at least for the efficiency's sake.

Thus it's not surprising that the PERC has suggested a decrease in the number of ministries that often overlap, not to mention the lengthy decision-making process created by the labyrinthine structure. Two and a half years down the line, it is still possible for the BNP to curtail the cabinet size; much that it is also desirable on their part.

What obviously is out of the ordinary and something of a stunner is the forthright manner in which the PERC has asked for the winding up of the PMO. Its argument is unassailable: in a parliamentary system of government it is the cabinet division through which the prime minister operates. The integration of the PMO with the cabinet division will not merely cut costs but also reduce over-centralisation.

The PERC recommendations are as good as paper-work unless implemented by this government which has a plenty of time to do it -- in two and a half years.