New Kuwait cabinet unlikely to ease crisis

Kuwait City: Kuwait finally got a new 15-member cabinet, but it features the same faces from the previous government with the exception of two ministers for the Health and Transportation ministries.

The new cabinet, the fifth headed by Prime Minister Shaikh Nasser Al Mohammad Al Ahmad Al Sabah, took the customary constitutional oath before the Emir, Shaikh Sabah Al Ahmad Al Sabah on Monday.

The new cabinet includes mostly previous faces with the same portfolios but with slight changes that include the Oil Ministry, given to Shaikh Dr. Mohammad Sabah Al Salem Al Sabah, the Deputy Premier, who also kept his previous position as foreign minister and was made caretaker of the Oil Ministry.

Oil minister Mohammad Al Olaim was dropped.

The other changes were a new Health minister, MP Rodhan Al Rodhan, and Transportation minister, Nabeel Bin Salamah.

The Emir asked the former prime minister to return to his position and form a new Cabinet after Shaikh Nasser's resignation last November.

He had stepped down in protest over attempts by three Islamist members of Parliament to question him on allegations of mismanagement of public funds.

Disappointed

"We have been waiting for more than three months to see a new cabinet and then find out the only changes were replacing three ministers. This is not a good sign of cooperating with the Parliament," MP Daif Allah Bou Ramia said yesterday.

"Whoever has blamed the MPs for the country's political instability has to look at the government actions. The new cabinet is not going to last very long," he added.

Kuwaiti analyst Hajaj Bou Khadour shared the same view.

"It's a temporary cabinet. The return of most ministers could be seen as a sign of harmony. It could mean they will be working as a team," he said, but warned that bringing back some of the old names mean't the crisis would persist.

"Some of those ministers don't really work well with the parliament," he added, referring to the frequent rows between lawmakers and some of the former ministers including Education minister Nouria Al Subaih and Commerce minister Ahmad Baqir.

Both ministers have been appointed to the new Cabinet. The Cabinet is due to take the oath in parliament today.

- With additional reporting from agencies