KUWAIT CITY, Feb 14: HH the Prime Minister Sheikh Jaber Al-Mubarak Al-Hamad Al-Sabah and members of the new government — with 10 new faces — were sworn in Tuesday before His Highness the Amir Sheikh Sabah Al-Ahmad Al-Jaber Al-Sabah.

After the oath-taking ceremony, HH the Amir expressed appreciation for the new ministers to participate and share the burden of the ministry responsibilities, wishing them all the best and success.
The Amir also highly valued HH the Prime Minister’s efforts in this respect.

The Amir also expressed sincere appreciation for the contributions of HH Sheikh Nasser Al-Mohammad Al-Ahmad Al-Sabah and former ministers for their efforts in performing their duties and responsibilities.

Challenges
The Amir said: “You have significant challenges awaiting all of you at this important stage, which we hope to overcome to continue to move towards the implementation of development plans and reform and harness all efforts and potentials for the advancement of the dear homeland and achieve its aspirations of development that require hard work and team spirit.” The Amir also stressed the importance to commit to the principle of respecting the Constitution, law and regulations.
“We always recall with thanks to Almighty Allah who has bestowed us with infinite bounties,” the Amir added.

“We look forward with confidence and hope to cooperate positively and constructively between the legislative and executive authorities. Cooperation that is dominated by mutual understanding and fostered by joint concern to address issues of interest to the homeland and citizens and to meet our goals and aspirations for serving our homeland,” the Amir said, adding that he was confident that the entrusted ministers would carry out their duties with dedication and sincerity.

This Cabinet was formed after the Amir issued a decree announcing the new Cabinet under the leadership of Sheikh Jaber. The Amiri decree listed the following as heads of vital portfolios: Sheikh Ahmad Humoud Al-Jaber Al-Sabah as First Deputy Premier and Minister of Interior; Sheikh Ahmad Khalid Al-Hamad Al-Sabah as Deputy Premier and Minister of Defense; Sheikh Sabah Al-Khalid Al-Hamad Al-Sabah as Deputy Premier, Minister of Foreign Affairs and Minister of State for Cabinet Affairs; and Hani Abdulaziz Hussein as Minister of Oil.

 Members
Other members of the new government include Mustafa Jassem Al-Shimali as Minister of Finance; Anas Khalid Al-Saleh as Minister of Commerce and Industry; Lieutenant General Ahmad Abdulatif Al-Rujeib as Minister of Social Affairs and Labor; Jamal Ahmad Al-Shihab as Minister of Justice, Awqaf and Islamic Affairs; Salem Mutheeb Al-Utheina as Minister of Communications; Shueib Shabbab Al-Muweizri as Minister of State for Housing Affairs and Minister of State for National Assembly Affairs; Dr Ali Saad Al-Obeidi as Minister of Health; Abdulaziz Abdulatif Al-Ibrahim as Minister of Electricity and Water and Minister of State for Municipal Affairs; Dr Fadhel Safar Ali Safar as Minister of Public Works and Minister of State for Planning and Development Affairs; Sheikh Mohammad Abdullah Al-Mubarak Al-Sabah as Minister of Information; Dr Nayef Falah Al-Hajraf as Minister of Education and Minister of Higher Education.

For his part, the Prime Minister delivered a reply speech saying that he was pleased to be entrusted with this responsibility at this critical stage, which requires hard and fruitful work to face daunting challenges, issues and problems.

He prayed to Allah Almighty to assist him along with the ministers to “carry out this heavy responsibility bestowed on us Your Highness and we promise Allah and Your Highness that achievement will be our guide and to accelerate the pace of sought reform, as well as advancing the process of national action towards achieving the national goals desired.”

The list of members of the new Cabinet, which was formed on the recommendation of the Prime Minister, will be forwarded to the National Assembly, while the decree on its formation takes effect on the date of its issuance and is to be published in the official gazette.

Meanwhile, the Amir received on Tuesday a letter from the Prime Minister, thanking him for the confidence bestowed in him through tasking him to form the new Cabinet after designating him as premier on Feb 6, 2012.

“In an endeavor to shoulder our ministerial responsibilities, so as to speed up process of reform and development in order to meet aspirations of the Kuwaiti people under Your Highness’s wise leadership, I present Your Highness with the list of individuals who accepted to take up the ministerial post
designated to each one of them,” the letter said.

The composition of this government came as a disappointment to the opposition group that fought up to the last minute Monday night to convince the Prime Minister to include many of its MPs into the new Cabinet, stemming from the fact that they constitute more than 70 percent in the Parliament.

On Monday night, around 36 members of the opposition  and some independent MPs held a meeting at MP Dr Faisal Al-Muslim’s diwaniya and agreed to propose to the Prime Minister to include at least nine of its members in the government, but after consultations the prime minister rejected their demand and offered them only three ministerial posts. However, the opposition rejected this offer arguing that three ministers cannot create reform in the system “We represent 72 percent of the legislature and the nation. We did not demand nine ministerial seats in order to control the ministerial decisions but to create reform,” Al-Muslim said after the meeting.

Again women suffered another setback in their political role in this country as they were not included in the new government just like how they suffered in the new parliament. This would be the first of its kind since women political rights were granted in 2006. Some attributed that to their absence in the parliament

It is worth mentioning that one third of members of the previous government have been re-appointed in the new government , they are Sheikh Jaber Al-Mubarak Al-Sabah, Sheikh Ahmed Al-Hamoud Al-Sabah , Sheikh Sabah Al-Khalid Al-Sabah , Mustapha al-Shamali , Salem Al-Othaina , Fadel Safir , while a quarter are from the military — Sheikh Ahmed Al-Hamoud Al-Sabah , Sheikh Ahmed Al-Khalid , Shuwaib Al-Muwaizri and Ahmed Al-Rajeeb.

In reaction to the new Cabinet formation, a number of the Islamist and tribal MPs who gathered Monday already began criticizing HH the Prime Minister’s choices.

Starting off, ICM independent MP Mohammed Al-Dallal said the formation “does not represent our ambitions and will not fulfill the reforms called for.” He added the “return of Mustafa Al-Shammali is a negative indication.”

“The Kuwaiti people have chosen a conservative majority for the parliament and are holding them responsible for development, stability and anti-corruption. The meetings held by MPs in the past days have resulted in the agreement of not less than 35 MPs on reform laws in development and politics,” he explained.

MP Waleed Al-Tabtabaei further said the new cabinet “contains the same former government approach”, noting that some of the new ministers are “troublemakers and had a role in the former government.”
“The new cabinet is disappointing, it is apparent that there are entities that are creating a crisis. We are sorry that our request for nine cabinet portfolios was rejected. I see this government as temporary, just to take care of the appointment of the Speaker of Parliament and his deputy,” he added.

Liberal Opposition MP Abdul-Rahman Al-Anjari warned earlier that without a parliamentary government, the Cabinet of Sheikh Jaber will fall.

The opening session on Wednesday will witness a battle for the position of Speaker of Parliament between liberal MP Mohammed Al-Saqr and nationalist PAB member MP Ahmed Al-Saadoun.
Almost all the Islamist and tribal MPs, around 32, have already declared their support for Al-Saadoun, but the scale may tip in favor of Al-Saqr as the entire cabinet as well as Shiite and liberal MPs are expected to vote for him.

Salafi MP Khaled Al-Sultan is the strongest contender for the Deputy Speaker chair and is running against MP Obaid Al-Mutairi.

In the meantime, liberal and pro-government MP Ali Al-Rashid praised the new cabinet formation and described it as a “technocratic government that was not subjected to quotas. We wish it good luck, but we also denounce the absence of women in the formation.”

Three separate meetings were held by Islamist and tribal MPs-elect Monday. First of which was at the Diwaniya of Hamad Al-Matar in the afternoon, in the evening at the Diwaniya of Ahmed Al-Saadoun and later in the night at the Diwaniya of Faisal Al-Muslim. Around 30 MPs participated in the meetings. All those meetings were to discuss participation in the new government. A majority of the members belonging to the Popular Labor bloc, the Development and Reform Bloc, the ICM and the Salafist put forward six conditions to the Prime Minister.

The opening session will kick-off with the Amiri inauguration address. Following which, the cabinet ministers and members of parliament will then take their oath in the assembly as per Article 91 of the Constitution:

Before assuming his duties in the Assembly or in its committees, a member of the National Assembly must take the following oath before the Assembly in a public sitting: “I swear by Almighty God to be faithful to the Country and to the Amir, to respect the Constitution and the laws of the State, to defend the liberties, interests, and properties of the people, and to discharge my duties honestly and truthfully.”

Agencies add:

“The new cabinet fails to reflect the aspirations of the people,” said newly-elected Islamist opposition MP Osama al-Munawer in a statement.

Independent MP Mubarak al-Waalan echoed his remarks. “The government’s line-up is disappointing ... I think the (parliament) will likely collide with it and it will not survive for long,” he said.

The new cabinet does not include a single Islamist, the largest opposition bloc that scored an impressive victory in the Feb 2 general election taking 23 of the 50 seats in parliament.

Shuaib al-Muwaizri, an opposition MP, decided to independently accept a ministerial post to become the only elected MP in the new cabinet line-up.

Al-Muwaizri was named state minister for housing and parliamentary affairs.

“The exclusion of women from the government reflects a prejudice and is a dangerous trend,” female
former MP Salwa al-Jassar wrote on her Twitter account.

PM’s meeting
Prime Minister Sheikh Jaber Al-Mubarak Al-Hamad Al-Sabah called on his cabinet members Tuesday to work together to implement his practical action plan for tackling the current challenges and meet the aspirations of the Kuwaiti people.

On top of the priorities of the government are to strengthen the national unity, assert the rule of law, protect the state funds, and modernize the educational and manpower systems,  the Prime Minister said in an address to the first cabinet meeting after taking oath of office.

“It’s a great pride for us to win the dear trust of HH the Amir to shoulder the responsibility for government action at this historic stage of the nation, “ Sheikh Jaber pointed out.

“We’ve vowed to do our utmost to live up to the expectations of HH the Amir and the nation and turn these hopes into tangible reality for the sake of the homeland.

“Our homeland is undergoing a crucial stage of comprehensive reform to complete the fundamentals of a modern nation and put the country on the road of development and prosperity,” he said.

Sheikh Jaber listed the priorities of his government as follows; “First, to cement the national unity and combat any attempt to foment sedition, “Second, to assert the principle of the rule of law without any exceptions and fight relentlessly all irregularities including nepotism, “Third, to scale up the combat against corruption in order to protect state funds, promote transparency, and put into full play the role of relevant state departments such as the State Audit Bureau, the Central Tenders Commission and the Chamber of Commerce and Industry, “Fourth, to modernize the educational system in a way that could preserve our Islamic identity and good traditions, “Fifth, to upgrade the state manpower system, enhance its efficacy and leverage the concept of civil service across the state departments whatever the post of a civil servant might be, “Sixth, to set the proper mechanisms for restructuring the national economy and putting a cap on overspending in order to ensure better future for the coming generations, “Seventh, to explore innovative ways for caring for youths particularity in the areas of employment in order to provide them with better living and tap into their potentials, “Eighth, to improve the performance of the public service in such areas as healthcare, water and power supplies, and road and traffics given the country’s cash surplus, “Ninth, to rationalize the audio-visual mass media that have to take stock of the national interests while seeking material gains, “Tenth, to develop practical parameters for government programs to ensure their viability and constant supervision over all stages of implementation, “Eleventh, to devise mechanisms for proper implementation of state-funded projects to cut the red tape and oversee them strictly, “And twelfth, to develop the relationship with the National Assembly (parliament) in order to tackle the realities and avoid repetition of old problems.”

Concluding, Sheikh Jaber wished all cabinet members success in shouldering the responsibilities of their respective portfolios through dedication and hard work.

Cabinet

Prime Minister
HH Sheikh Jaber Al-Mubarak Al-Hamad Al-Sabah

First Deputy Pemier and Minister of Interior
Sheikh Ahmad Humoud Al-Jaber Al-Sabah

Deputy Premier and Minister of Defense
Sheikh Ahmad Khalid Al-Hamad Al-Sabah

Deputy Premier, Minister of Foreign Affairs and Minister of State for Cabinet Affairs
Sheikh Sabah Al-Khalid Al-Hamad Al-Sabah

Deputy Premier and Minister of Finance
Mustafa Jassem Al-Shimali

Minister of Commerce and Industry
Anas Khalid Al-Saleh

Minister of Social Affairs and Labor
Lt General Ahmad Abdulatif Al-Rujeib

Minister of Justice, Awqaf and Islamic Affairs
Jamal Ahmad Al-Shihab

Minister of Communications
Salem Mutheeb Al-Utheina

Minister of State for Housing Affairs and Minister of State for National Assembly Affairs
Shueib Shabbab Al-Muweizri

Minister of Health
Dr Ali Saad Al-Obeidi

Minister of Electricity and Water and Minister of State for Municipal Affairs
Abdulaziz Abdulatif Al-Ibrahim

Minister of Public Works and Minister of State for Planning and Development Affairs
Dr. Fadhel Safar Ali Safar

Minister of Information
Sheikh Mohammad Abdullah Al-Mubarak Al-Sabah

Minister of Education and Minister of Higher Education
Dr Nayef Falah Al-Hajraf

Minister of Oil
Hani Abdulaziz Hussein