A new cabinet has been appointed in Kuwait

作者: Ashraf Dali on 15 December , 2012.
类别: All, Asia, Middle East, News, Politics

Kuwait: New Cabinet Approved by Amir

His Highness the Amir Sheikh Sabah Al-Ahmad Al-Sabah issued a decree naming a new cabinet. The cabinet has six members of the Al-Sabah ruling family, one more than the previous government: the prime minister and the ministers of defense, interior, foreign, information and a state minister for cabinet affairs.

The ministers of commerce, development and communications remained unchanged in the cabinet that has five new faces and two female ministers, up from one in the last government.

The previous cabinet, also headed by Sheikh Jaber, resigned last week in a routine process following the election which was widely boycotted by the Islamist, nationalist and liberal opposition.

The opposition has vowed to continue protests until the downfall of the new parliament, entirely dominated by pro-government MPs, and the scrapping of the disputed amendment to the electoral law. The new cabinet is Kuwait’s 11th since 2006. Kuwait has since been hit by a series of political crises, forcing 10 cabinets to resign and parliament being dissolved on five occasions.

Constant disputes between the governments and MPs have stalled development in Kuwait which has surpluses of around $400 billion thanks to high oil prices over the past 12 years.
Kuwait, which says it sits on 10 percent of global oil reserves, pumps around three million barrels of crude per day. It has a native population of 1.2 million and 2.6 million foreign residents.