KUWAIT CITY – Kuwait formed its fifth government in less than a year on Sunday, naming new oil and defence ministers, as the Opec member tries to break out of a protracted political impasse that has stalled fiscal reform and development.

The Prime Minister, Sheikh Ahmad Nawaf Al-Sabah, the eldest son of Kuwait’s ailing ruler, heads the line-up, which includes Mr Saad Al-Barrak as the country’s eighth oil minister in as many years.

Mr Al-Barrak, a former chief executive of Zain known for turning the Kuwaiti telecommunications company into a global giant, has in the past been critical of government bureaucracy. He was also named state minister for economic and investment affairs.

Mr Manaf Al-Hajeri, the fifth finance minister since 2020, was reappointed and heads Kuwait Investment Authority, which manages the country’s sovereign wealth fund that is valued at more than US$700 billion (S$937 billion).

Sheikh Ahmad Al-Fahad Al-Sabah, a leading member of the ruling family, was named defence minister, filling a post that has been vacant for about nine months. 

A former president of the Olympic Council of Asia and a former minister, Sheikh Ahmad was sidelined by senior ruling family members more than 10 years ago following a dispute and remained out of the Cabinet until now.

He had been among senior Al-Sabahs who have jostled for power in the oil-rich Gulf nation, and his return marks a change in alliances in both the family and Kuwaiti politics. 

The frequent turnover in Cabinets has given successive ministers little opportunity to push through reform and bring stability, with the cycle of disruption delaying economic diversification and deterring foreign investment.

It has also fuelled Kuwaiti sentiment that their country is lacking direction.

“The ‘new’ government is not so new, it follows the same old manual,” said Assistant Professor Bader Al-Saif, a professor of history at Kuwait University.

“But it’s the Prime Minister’s boldest government so far.”

The latest Cabinet has the highest number of ruling family ministers in years, and the highest number of deputy prime ministers ever, as well as the comeback of an ambitious ruling family member even when his legal battles abroad are allegedly not over, Prof Al-Saif said.

The country earlier in June held parliamentary elections for the third time in less than three years.

Opposition lawmakers with ties to the Prime Minister now dominate the new National Assembly. This could help pave the way for smoother relations between the government, whose members are appointed by the ruling family, and elected legislators. BLOOMBERG