Nine ministers, including the oil, finance and interior, were reshuffled by Kuwait's prime minister on Sunday in a bid to avoid parliamentary grilling of two ministers over corruption allegations and to replace three ministers who resigned under parliamentary pressure.

Kuwaiti Prime Minister Shaykh Nasir al-Mohammed al-Sabah made the widely-expected reshuffle with the key oil portfolio given to Bader Mishari al-Humaidi, who was the finance minister, al-Jazeera TV channel reported.

Both al-Humaidi and the outgoing minister, Abdallah al-Matuk, were risking a parliamentary questioning over allegations of mismanagement and wasting of public funds.

Three members of parliament were expected to question both ministers at the next sitting on Tuesday after parliament returns from a summer recess.

The reshuffle, the second in eight months, is seen as a move to defuse a political crisis. The former oil minister, Shaykh Ali al-Jarra, quit in June, which prompted the communications minister to resign in solidarity with him.

In August, the public health minister, Massouma al-Mubarak, quit over a fire at a hospital. She was the first female cabinet minister to be appointed since women were enfranchised and given the right to hold public office in 2005.


DPA

Güncelleme Tarihi: 29 Ekim 2007, 10:20