KUWAIT CITY, May 8, (Agencies): His Highness the Prime Minister Sheikh Nasser Mohammed Al-Ahmad Al-Sabah formed a new cabinet on Sunday, dropping his oil minister, but without appeasing the opposition in Kuwait’s parliament.
Former communications minister Mohammed Al-Baseeri, a veteran Islamist politician, was given the oil portfolio instead Sheikh Ahmad, a member of the ruling family.
Apart from changes to the key oil and commerce ministries, the new lineup includes six new faces compared to the government which resigned on March 31 over a dispute with parliament.
  HH the Amir Sheikh Sabah al-Ahmad Al-Sabah swore in the 16-member team presented by the premier, the state-run KUNA news agency reported.
But immediately after the new cabinet lineup was announced, several MPs strongly criticised it, saying the changes did not meet people’s aspirations, and vowed to question the premier and at least one other minister.
Newcomer Amani Buresli, an academic, was appointed minister of commerce and industry, while the deputy premier for economic affairs, Sheikh Ahmad Fahad Al-Sabah, and Finance Minister Mustafa al-Shamali were retained.
Besides the prime minister, the new cabinet includes four members of the Al-Sabah ruling family, one less than in the previous cabinet. They continue to hold the key posts of defence, interior and foreign affairs.
Newcomers include Sami al-Nasef, a liberal writer, as information and communications minister, Ahmad al-Mulaifi, a former liberal MP as education minister and Salem al-Othaina, an independent academic, as electricity and water minister.
During the swearing-in ceremony, the Amir urged Kuwait’s government and parliament to cooperate in the service of the country, which has been rocked by almost non-stop political crises during the past five years.
However, the government came under fire immediately from opposition MPs.
MP Khaled al-Tahus, a member of the Popular Action Bloc which has four lawmakers, said the Bloc would grill the premier in parliament on Tuesday over allegations of squandering public funds.
Independent MP Saadun Hammad also said he would also seek to question Health Minister Helal al-Sayer over charges of financial and administrative irregularities.
Several other opposition MPs were also unimpressed.
“The new cabinet does not meet the aspirations of the Kuwaiti people or the expectations of the legislature ... There will be major confrontations between the government and MPs,” independent lawmaker, Salem al-Namlan, told reporters.
The previous cabinet resigned more than five weeks ago following a showdown with parliament after MPs moved to question in parliament three ministers from the ruling family.
Two of those ministers, Foreign Minister Sheikh Mohammad Al-Sabah and Sheikh Ahmad, were however retained in the new cabinet.
Since May 2006, Sheikh Nasser, a nephew of the ruler, resigned six times and parliament was dissolved three times over political disputes between the government and the opposition.
In January, the prime minister narrowly survived a no-confidence vote in parliament following a grilling over allegations that he breached the constitution and suppressed freedom.
Kuwait, OPEC’s fifth largest producer, sits on about 10 percent of global proven crude reserves and has an estimated Í300 billion of surplus, but development has been hampered by continued political squabbling.
The new oil minister, Al-Baseeri, is Western-educated engineer-turned-Islamist politician.
The 56-year-old was elected thrice to parliament and grew up a leading star of the Islamic Constitutional Movement (ICM), the political arm of Kuwait’s Muslim Brotherhood, but left the Islamist movement in 2009 to join the cabinet.
Baseeri became an MP for the first time in 1999 with a solid backing from Islamists and his Ajmi tribe. He also won seats in 2003 and 2006 when he was elected as deputy parliament speaker.
He did not contest general elections held in 2008 and 2009 after parliament was dissolved due to disputes between MPs and the government.
After receiving his doctorate degree in mechanical engineering in the United States in 1992, Baseeri worked as a professor at Kuwait’s Public Authority for Applied Education and Training, a state-run body.
He joined the Kuwaiti Muslim Brotherhood mouthpiece weekly magazine Al-Mujtama (The Society). But in May 2009, he defied an ICM call not to accept a cabinet seat and instead quit from the movement.
Baseeri was appointed minister of communications.
In the new Kuwaiti cabinet, he was awarded the oil portfolio in an OPEC member state where income from sector makes up around 94 percent of public revenues.
Baseeri will oversee a sector that plans to spend more than Í90 billion over the next five years to modernise infrastructure, boost production and kick-start mega projects stalled for several years due to political disputes.
Parliament has halted a project to build a new refinery with a capacity of 615,000 barrels per day and a second project to upgrade two of the three existing refineries at a cost of over Í30 billion.
The two projects have been placed on the back burner after opposition MPs alleged irregularities in the awarding process of the two ventures.
The two projects are awaiting the green light from the Supreme Petroleum Council, the country’s highest decision-making body on oil, to meet and revive them. SPC has not met for several months.
Baseeri must also speed up filling key posts in the oil sector which have remained vacant for about eight months.
“We have a new government, but it’s not new. We have a new formation but it’s part of the old paradigm,” said Shafiq Ghabra, a political science professor at Kuwait University, adding he did not see the government lasting more than a year.
Jassim al-Saadoun, the chairman of Kuwait’s al-Shall economic consulting company, said he expects to see a very short life for the new cabinet, and that the next challenge to the government could lead to parliament’s dissolution.
“The main portfolios were maintained ... including the finance minister who stayed in place,” Saadoun said. “Even with regards to the oil ministry, both Busairi and Sheikh Ahmad are not from the industry.”
Kuwait’s Cabinet held its preliminary meeting Sunday morning at Bayan Palace after swearing in before His Highness the Amir Sheikh Sabah Al-Ahmad Al-Jaber Al-Sabah. The session was chaired by Sheikh Nasser.
State Minister for Cabinet’s Affairs Ali Al-Rashed made a statement highlighting what took place during the meeting.
Al-Rashed said that the Cabinet listened to a speech by HH the Premier, as Sheikh Nasser voiced utmost appreciation for HH the Amir’s trust and blessing bestowed on the the new cabinet formation, as well as HH Sheikh Nasser’s appreciation for burden to be shouldered by cabinet members during such critical stage.
Sheikh Nasser also thanked former cabinet members for their devoted efforts during their tenure in serving state and citizens.
Sheikh Nasser, continued Minister Al-Rashed, also underlined the need to overcome the state of “political exhaustion” that burdened and impacted the country, and called for establishing a practical approach to push reform and development process forward in order to attain hoped achievements.
The Premier also highlighted main concerns of HH the Amir in the next period, chiefly preserving national unity, combating sedition among Kuwaiti people and establishing an institutional state that abides by law.
Furthermore, Sheikh Nasser stressed the need to stick by constitutional regulations in the Cabinet’s cooperation with the National Assembly, which would lead to a fruitful cooperation embodying true partnership between the two branches.
Sheikh Nasser said the Cabinet should also develop its work mechanisms and well-invest in national resources in all domains.
On the Cabinet’s priorities, he said, would be setting suitable steps and mechanisms to preserve public funds, fight corruption and holding the corrupt accountable; an appraoch that would establish the concept of transparency and integrity.
In this context, the Premier said youth should be given deserved attention through providing them with suitable job opportunities and involve them in the state’s developmental programs.
Finally, the Cabinet assigned Minister of State for Municipal affairs to speed up establishing a public authority for food inspection, as well as instructing Kuwait Municipality to prepare a draft law to toughen penalties for those trading in expired food items, with punishments reaching to imprisonment and withdrawing the company’s license. The draft law is to be submitted within two months.
Cabinet lineup
Following is the lineup of the new cabinet, Sheikh Nasser’s seventh since 2006 and the 28th since oil-rich Kuwait gained independence in 1961:
Following is the lineup of the new cabinet, Sheikh Nasser’s seventh since 2006 and the 28th since oil-rich Kuwait gained independence in 1961:
— Prime Minister: Sheikh Nasser Mohammad Al-Ahmad Al-Sabah
— First Deputy Premier and Defence Minister: Sheikh Jaber Al-Mubarak Al-Sabah
— Deputy Premier, Foreign Minister: Sheikh Mohammad Sabah Al-Salem Al-Sabah
— Deputy Premier for Economic Affairs, State Minister for Housing and Development: Sheikh Ahmad Fahad Al-Sabah
— Deputy Premier and Interior Minister: Sheikh Ahmad Al-Humoud Al-Sabah
— Deputy Premier, Minister of Social Affairs and Labour, and Justice: Mohammad Al-Afasi
— Minister of State for Cabinet Affairs: Ali Al-Rashed (MP, new)
— Minister of Oil and Parliamentary Affairs: Mohammad Al-Baseeri
— Minister of Education and Higher Education: Amad Al-Mulaifi (new)
— Minister of Commerce and Industry: Amani Buresli (new)
— Minister of Islamic Affairs: Mohammad Al-Numas (new)
— Minister of Finance: Mustafa Al-Shamali
— Minister of Health: Helal Al-Sayer
— Minister of Public Works and Municipalities: Fadhel Safar
— Minister of Communications and Information: Sami Al-Nasef (new)
— Minister of Electricity and Water: Salem Al-Othaina (new)