PM Maliki to trim his Cabinet to 29 ministries

BAGHDAD  / IraqiNews.com: The Iraqi Parliament has announced on Sunday its reception of a message from Prime Minister, Nouri al-Maliki, to trim down his Cabinet to 29 ministries, instead of its current 43 ministries, according to the Parliament’s Member, Mohammed al-Khalidy.   “The Parliament’s Chairmanship Commission and the Leaders of political groups are discussing today (Sunday) the message of Maliki that arrived today, regarding the trimming down of the government,” Khalidy told IraqiNews.com news agency.   He said: “the message includes a project to trim down the Cabinet to 29 ministries,” adding that the project would discussed by the Parliament during the forthcoming few days.   “All political blocs support the trimming process, but that needs a political consensus, within a certain mechanism,” Khalidy said, stressing that “the distribution of the ministries would be carried out according to the mechanism of points, on basis that every two parliament seats get half a point.”   “The Cabinet’s trimming shall be carried out on two stages, the first to cover the ministries of state and the second shall be based on merging some ministries, for which agreement had not reached for yet,” Khallidy said.   Noteworthy is that Prime Minister, Nouri al-Maliki, had called on June 23 rd  last for the trimming of his government, reiterating the significance for carrying out a change in a number of ministries, on the level of ministers.   The Iraqi Parliament had granted trust to the government on Dec. 21, 2011, led by Nouri al-Maliki, whose cabinet included 43 ministries and state ministries.   SKH (TR)/SR  594