MANAMA, 16 January 2005 — Bahrain’s opposition leader said yesterday that there were not enough new faces in the tiny kingdom’s Cabinet, which was reshuffled Friday by royal decree.
“This is not a real change, it’s a rotation,” Sheikh Ali Salman, who heads the Islamic National Accord Association, the main political formation of Bahrain’s majority Shiite Muslims, told reporters.
“And as usual with such things, it always takes place without consultation, either with deputies in Parliament or the political powers, and this is a very negative thing. There isn’t enough new blood in the Cabinet.”
Hamad created a Ministry of Social Affairs and appointed the government’s second woman minister, Fatima Al-Blushi, to head it. Bahrain only granted women the right to vote in 2001.
“Bahraini women in general are capable of any responsibility, and appointing a new woman minister is positive but the most important thing is capability,” said Salman.
