President fails to keep promise on cabinet picks

KABUL, lower house of Parliament, for a vote of confidence.

Speaker Abdul Rauf Ibrahimi informed the house on Saturday the president had phoned him that since the list was still being prepared, parliamentarians could go on their summer recess.

Whenever the president finalised his long-awaited list of cabinet picks, he would send it to the lower house, Ibrahimi quoted Karzai as telling him over the telephone.

Siamak Herawi, deputy spokesman for the president, earlier told Pajhwok Afghan News that the list had been drawn up and would be dispatched to the Wolesi Jirga Secretariat on Saturday.

Although the government wanted to fill all cabinet slots, the list of ministers-designate remained incomplete, said the deputy head of the media centre, Sibghatullah Sahaf Safi. The list would feature new nominees, he added.

At a May 31 news conference, Karzai apologised for the delay in introducing the nominees to lawmakers. Linking the postponement to the security situation, he promised to meet soon the constitutional formality.

The ministries of public health, urban development, communication and information technology, transport and civil aviation and water and energy are headed by acting ministers.

According to the relevant law, an acting minister cannot hold his/her office for more than a month. But the mentioned acting ministers have been in office for several months.

myn/mud

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