Sunday, September 9, 2007

Government changes

Big government changes in Oman today. His Majesty The Sultan has issued 9 royal decrees with the following changes:

The Ministry of Regional Municipalities, Environment and Water Resources has been split in two, a ministry for Regional Municipalities and Water Resources, and a Ministry for Environment and Climate.

Ministry of Agriculture and Fisheries has been split into separate ministries for agriculture and fisheries.

Al Sayyid Humoud bin Faisal, previously the Secretary General of the Council of Ministers is now the Minister of Environment and Climate.

Al Sayyid Khalid bin Hilal Al Busaidi takes his place in the Council of Ministers.

Sh. Salim bin Hilal Al Khalili remains Minister of Agriculture.

Sh. Mohd Al Qatabi, previously minister of state and governor of Dhofar, is now the Minister of Fisheries.

Sh. Mohd bin Marhoon Al Ma'mari, previously ambassador in the UAE, is now the minister and governor of Dhofar.

Sh. Mohd Al Harthy, previously Minister of Transport and Communication, now the minister of Civil Services.

Dr. Khamis Al Alawi, previously minister of Housing, Electricity and Water, is now the minster of Transport and Communication.

Sh. Hilal bin Khalid Al Ma'wali, previously the minister of Civil Services, now a member of Majlis A'Dawla.

Sh. Saif Al Shabibi, previously undersecretary of the ministry of housing, electricity and water, is now the Minister of Housing.

Electricity and Water departments from MHEW are now split from the Ministry of Housing, and made into a Authority for Electricity and Water.

Sh. Abdulla Al Qatabi, previously president of Majlis A'Shura, is now a state advisor.

Sh. Ahmed Al Eissa'i, who was the minster of labour in the 90's, is now the president of Majlis A'Shura.

(all above translated from Arabic decrees. The official English names for all the ministries and posts will be in tomorrow's English papers).

3 comments:

Kay said...

What does Majlis A'Dawla and its members do exactly? It seems to be the "place" where ex-ministers are retired to.

TI3GIB said...

It's an elevated council to discuss issues of larger interest than regions, as opposed to what is done in Majlis Al-Shura.

Perhaps his Majesty has a change of plan set ? .. Something he'll discuss publicaly soon maybe ?

Amjad said...

Those are indeed "big" changes..! Few hours ago I was out and heard some people in the streets talking about the Royal Decrees His Majesty issued today and talking about the changes took place. At that time I didn't know anything about the decrees but when I came back home I checked ONA's website to check the details of the Royal Decrees and was quite surprised with the 'number' of decrees issued today.

I assume such changes took quite well planning from mawlana and the changes were not just decided overnight. As ti3gib indicated, maybe His Majesty has a change of plan set!