KUWAIT CITY, Dec 13: Kuwait’s new Prime Minister Sheikh Jaber Mubarak Al-Sabah on Tuesday formed a new Cabinet that comprised only 10 ministers with just small changes in the line-up, state television reported.

HH the Amir Sheikh Sabah Al-Ahmad Al-Sabah issued a decree approving the new government, the eighth Cabinet since February 2006. All previous Cabinets were forced to resign because of political disputes.

All key ministers in the previous government, which resigned on November 28 over corruption allegations, were retained but the three ministers who quit a few days earlier were dropped.

Sheikh Ahmad Al-Humud Al-Sabah, who held the interior post in the previous government, was also given the defence portfolio, while Sheikh Sabah Khaled Al-Sabah was retained as foreign minister.

The ministers of finance, oil, and electricity and water remained the same. Besides the premiership, members of the ruling Al-Sabah family also hold the portfolios of defence, interior, foreign affairs and information.

No date has so far been set for the new elections which must be held within 60 days of the 50-seat parliament being dissolved.

The new compact Cabinet will serve for only several weeks to oversee the polls because under Kuwaiti law the Cabinet must resign after declaring election results.

Former prime minister Sheikh Nasser Mohammad Al-Ahmad Al-Sabah resigned after allegations of corruption and huge rallies demanding his ouster organised by the opposition in the oil-rich Gulf state.

The resignation was followed a week later by the ruler dissolving parliament for the fourth time in under six years.

Kuwait has been rocked by a series of almost non-stop political disputes since Sheikh Nasser, a nephew of the Amir, was appointed premier in February 2006.

The parliamentary opposition has targeted Sheikh Nasser, 71, claiming that he failed to stop widespread corruption and to run the wealthy state efficiently.

Just days before he resigned, three former opposition lawmakers filed to question him in parliament over a corruption scandal involving around 15 members of the now dissolved body.

They also accused him of transferring millions of dollars of public funds into his own overseas bank accounts, an allegation strongly denied by the government.

Cabinet

•  Prime minister: Sheikh Jaber Mubarak Al-Sabah
• First deputy premier, interior and defence minister: Sheikh Ahmad Al-Humud Al-Sabah
•  Deputy premier, foreign minister: Sheikh Sabah Khaled Al-Sabah.
•  Minister of oil and parliamentary affairs: Mohammad Al-Baseeri
•  Education and justice: Ahmad Al-Mulaifi
•  Commerce, industry and development: Amani Buresli
•  Islamic affairs, social affairs and housing: Mohammad Al-Numas
•  Finance and health: Mustafa Al-Shamali
•  Public works and municipalities: Fadhel Safar
•  Communications, electricity and water: Salem Al-Othaina
•  Information: Sheikh Hamad Jaber Al-Sabah

Earlier, Prime Minister Sheikh Jaber Mubarak Al-Hamad Al-Sabah referred the Cabinet line-up to His Highness the Amir, saying in his letter that he realized “great challenges, issues and problems facing our beloved Kuwait which required swift action to address them.” Sheikh Jaber said he formed his Cabinet because of the “limited tasks” the ministers could undergo in the previous care-taker government.

The Prime Minister pledged to serve Kuwait’s higher interests, and pushing the national action for the sake of comprehensive development to achieve prosperity.