List of cabinet picks before summer recess: Omar

KABUL): Predicting a drastic reshuffle in President Hamid Karzai’s cabinet, his spokesman Waheed Omar said on Sunday the much-awaited list of ministers-designate would reach Parliament before the house rises for its summer break.

Parliamentarians on Sunday continued to observe a silence for a second consecutive day as a mark of protest over Karzai’s failure to send his Cabinet choices to the lower house for a vote of confidence, amid a warning from the speaker that the protest could continue even after the end of the recess.

Thirty percent of Wolesi Jirga members, who were present during the session, spent their time thumbing desks, reading newspapers and having private discussions.

A week back, lawmakers announced a 15-day delay in their summer recess to help Karzai finalise the list of Cabinet choices and heads of independent organisations, as well as Supreme Court judges.

Waheed Omar told reporters in Kabul that two committees were working to finalise the list of ministers-designate. He was hopeful that the list would be ready for dispatch to Parliament before it rose for the recess.

Without explaining what he called a drastic reshuffle in the Cabinet, the spokesman said Karzai had promised a parliamentary delegation that he would soon send his nominees to the lower house.

Omar said there were no differences over nominations for Cabinet slots; the president was busy consulting his aides in an effort to make good choices.

Over the past 18 months, acting ministers have been heading the ministries of water and energy, women‘s affairs, urban development, transport and aviation, communications and information technology. They failed to obtain a vote of confidence from the MPs last year.

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