JEDDAH, 9 February 2005 — Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques King Fahd yesterday appointed Iyad Madani the new culture and information minister in place of Fouad Al-Farsy, who has been given the portfolio of Haj, which was previously held by Madani.
In a Cabinet reshuffle, King Fahd also named Abdul Mohsen Al-Akkas the minister of social affairs, replacing Ali Al-Namlah. Abdullah ibn Saleh Bin-Obaid will take over as the new minister of education from Muhammad Al-Rasheed.
King Fahd thanked outgoing ministers Al-Rasheed and Al-Namlah for their services to the country and wished them the best, the royal court said. The king made the new appointments on the recommendations of Crown Prince Abdullah, it added.
The reshuffle did not affect prominent ministers like Petroleum Minister Ali Al-Naimi, Finance Minister Ibrahim Al-Assaf, Commerce and Industry Minister Hashem Yamani and Health Minister Hamad Al-Manie who retain their posts.
The new Information Minister Madani is a board member of several important organizations including the King Abdul Aziz Foundation for the Gifted and the Supreme Commission for Tourism.
The newly appointed Minister of Social Affairs Al-Akkas was a member of the Shoura Council. Bin-Obaid, the new education minister, had earlier held the job of secretary-general of the Muslim World League.
Al-Akkas, an executive of the Saudi Research and Marketing Group (SRMG) that publishes Arab News, holds a doctorate degree in political science from Washington University in Seattle. Al-Akkas, who has been working with SRMG for the past 14 years, was named assistant to the chairman in 1991. He was also a board member of SRMG companies. Born in Al-Ahsa in 1957, he was appointed a Shoura member in 2002.
Also yesterday, King Fahd issued royal decrees extending the terms of Prince Muhammad ibn Nasser, governor of Jizan, Prince Saud ibn Abdullah ibn Thunayyan, chairman of the Royal Commission for Jubail and Yanbu, and Saleh ibn Abdullah Al-Ibrahim, deputy chief of the court for the Council of Ministers, for four years.
The last Cabinet reshuffle took place in April 2003, when most of the important ministers retained their positions. However eight lost jobs and five new faces were introduced. A minister was appointed the first time for information technology.
The new appointments come ahead of a major reshuffle of the Shoura Council, which is expected in two months. Prince Sultan, second deputy premier and minister of defense and aviation, said recently that the number of Shoura members would be increased from 120 to 150.
Some newspapers have reported that a number of prominent Saudi women are likely to be inducted into the Shoura during the reshuffle. “The names of a selected number of women have been proposed for appointment on the Shoura Council. But a final decision on the matter is yet to be taken,” Al-Yaum newspaper reported, quoting informed sources.
Osama Kurdi, a member of the Shoura, has said the council had benefited enormously from the views and opinions expressed by women during discussions on women’s issues. “The appointment of women as members would strengthen the Shoura and would be beneficial to everybody,” he told the Arabic daily. According to Muhammad Al-Zulfa, a senior Shoura member, there was no justification for keeping women out of the consultative body. He expected inclusion of women as one of the surprises of the upcoming Shoura reshuffle.
