Saleh names new PM, orders cabinet reshuffle [Archives:2007/1038/Front Page]

By: Raidan Al-Saqqaf
SANA'A, March 31 ) President Ali Abdullah Saleh issued presidential decree No. 8/2007 on Saturday, asking Minister of Electricity Ali Mohammed Mujawar to form a new cabinet. Mujawar will replace Abdulqader Bajammal as Yemen's new prime minister. Bajammal has served as prime minister since March 2001 and is secretary-general of the ruling General People's Congress party.

Observers say President Saleh appointed the new prime minister to demonstrate Yemen's seriousness in embarking on real economic reforms. The new prime minister is expected to announce the new cabinet later this week. Meanwhile, Saleh forwarded a letter to outgoing premier Bajammal, thanking him for his role as prime minister for three consecutive terms. In his letter, the president said Bajammal now should focus on his role as GPC secretary-general and prepare for upcoming parliamentary elections in 2009.

A native of Shabwa, Mujawar, 54, is a technocrat and an academic specialized in economics, holding a doctorate in production management from France's Grenoble University. He has held several academic posts at Aden University and served as minister of fisheries and marine wealth from 2003-2006. Appointed minister of electricity in 2006, Mujawar has become famous for the reforms he has instituted at the ministry since then. He has fought corruption within the ministry, as well as what's known as the “Electricity Mafia,” which resulted in more than YR 126.6 billion in losses in 2005 due to uncollected payments and tender-related corruption.

As minister of electricity, Mujawar has vowed to make 2007 a year with very limited electricity power failures by implementing a revised energy production strategy, to disconnect power for any official or influential individual who hasn't paid the ministry what it's due and even prosecute such parties, in addition to revising the tariff to decrease the burden on society's lowest strata. Last month, he ordered disconnecting power services for the ruling party branch in Taiz for not having paid their electric bill for several years, which exceeded YR 5 million.

This is the first cabinet reshuffle since Saleh was re-elected president last September. A cabinet reshuffle previously was declared Feb. 12,2006, with Bajammal as prime minister and 15 new ministers.
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