SINDH REPRESENTATIVE NOT INCLUDED IN SMEDA BOARD

The Union of Small and Medium Enterprises (UNISAME) has invited the attention of prime minister (PM) Nawaz Sharif to the willful omission of representative of the province of Sindh in the reconstitution of the board of directors (BOD) of the Small and Medium Enterprises Development Authority (SMEDA) in gross violation of the SMEDA ordinance 2002.

President UNISAME Zulfikar Thaver said the ordinance clearly states that the BOD will have one member from each province and the ministry of industries and production (MOI&P) vide its defective notification has reconstituted the board without the representative of Sindh and instead has included two members from Lahore depriving the province of Sindh from representation on the BOD of SMEDA. The SMEs of Sindh are badly affected by this violation and are seeking an immediate redress to this adverse decision.

It is reported that all appointments are made in the PM secretariat by the blue eyed officers of the PM and the PM hardly has the time to examine the merit of the appointees and besides the first choice is for the near and dear ones and the second choice is Punjab. This is exactly the case and for this reason the representative of Sindh has been excluded. The SMEs of Sindh need their representative on the BOD and the PM’s kind attention is invited to this matter on priority basis.

Thaver said that SMEDA and the MOI&P had recommended his name by virtue of his long experience as the member BOD of SMEDA from 2011 to 2014 and being the founder and president of UNISAME and being chairman of Small Medium Industrial Leasing Estates (SMILE) Pvt Ltd and recognized internationally as an SME expert. The UNISAME chief said the board cannot be completed without a representative of the Union and apart from being a representative of Sindh he is capable of providing his expertise on the subject and give the board feedback on the sector.

He said he has been working with dedication for the sector for the last 14 years and is voicing the concerns of the sector vigorously.
The Union first created awareness then identified the impediments and suggested remedial measures to various government institutions and the stakeholders. The Union has played an outstanding role in the promotion and development of the sector and is on record.

Thaver said when he complained to a senior bureaucrat of his non inclusion in the board, the officer said that it is their loss not yours. SME promotion and development is not everybody’s cup of tea, it is a very specialized subject

However the UNISAME chief lamented that if not himself they could have appointed any other capable person from Sindh but simply excluding the membership of Sindh province in the BOD is a grave and serious violation of the rules of the game and against the letter and spirit of the SMEDA Ordinance 2002.

Posted in: Press Releases