The Ministry of IT and Telecommunication (MoITT) has announced that the Human Resource Governance Committee (HRGC) has completed the screening process for the appointment of a new Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of Ignite National Technology Fund.
According to the Ministry, interviews for the shortlisted candidates were conducted in August 2024, and HRGC’s recommendations will be presented to the Board in its upcoming meeting. The Board is expected to finalize the CEO selection process within the next week.
The position of CEO at Ignite became vacant following the completion of the fixed-term employment contract of the former CEO, Asim Shahryar Husain, on January 17, 2024. The vacancy was initially advertised on December 24, 2023, with a deadline for application submissions set for January 8, 2024. This information was disclosed in a written reply by the Ministry to the Parliament.
The IT Ministry further stated that the Board’s Human Resources Committee supervised the shortlisting of candidates for the CEO post. After a thorough interview process in May 2024, the Board selected a candidate, subject to employment record verification. However, after reviewing the findings from the candidate’s employment verification, the Board decided to re-advertise the position on June 12, 2024, extending the application submission deadline to June 27, 2024.
Despite the re-advertisement, the recruitment process has yet to conclude. In the interim, Adeel Aijaz Shaikh, GM (Corporate Affairs), has been holding the additional charge of CEO since January 18, 2024, according to the Ministry. His temporary appointment will continue until the selection of a regular CEO is finalized.
It reflects failure of ministry and ignite that they have not been able to appoint a new ceo even after almost a year. No wonder performance of govt organizations is so poor because they are run by adhoc people instead of proper professionals.