New cabinet ministers sworn in before Kuwaiti emir

By Mohamed Abdul-Ghaffar

KUWAIT CITY

Newly appointed members of Kuwait’s cabinet were sworn in Tuesday before Emir Sabah al-Ahmad al-Jaber al-Sabah, Kuwait’s official KUNA news agency has reported.

The move comes almost a month and a half after the last government resigned in masse amid a dispute with the Kuwaiti parliament.

According to KUNA, the emir urged incoming cabinet members to use “wisdom and farsightedness” in dealing with Kuwait’s “critical internal and external challenges”, which he did not list by name.

He also called on new cabinet ministers to “work together in a spirit of cooperation and mutual respect between the [government’s] legislative and executive branches”.

The new government will be led by Prime Minister Jaber al-Mubarak al-Hamad al-Sabah, who had also headed up the last government.

“We will strive to live up to expectations,” KUNA quoted the prime minister as saying at the swearing-in ceremony in Kuwait City.

Last month, the emir ordered the prime minister to draw up proposals for a new government after cabinet members had resigned en masse following an acrimonious dispute with lawmakers.

The new government will be the seventh to be headed up by Sheikh Jaber.

According to Kuwait’s constitution, the government is comprised of 16 cabinet ministers.