By George Grant.
Tripoli, 26 November:
The government of Prime Minister Ali Zeidan has decided that all deputy ministers of the Kib Government . . .[restrict]will now stay in place until such time as replacements are appointed.
The decision follows a recent announcement by Zeidan that all deputy ministers were to be relieved of their duties with immediate effect.
“There has been something of a change” said Mohammed Alsabbee, a member of Zeidan’s office. “The decision has been made that the deputies will go, and in principle they are out. In practice, however, they will still be in position. They will continue to work until a new deputy is appointed.”
Some confusion had surrounded the first announcement, in particular with regards to ministries where new ministers had yet to be appointed. Nine ministries are currently without ministers, eight on account of investigations by the Integrity Commission and one, the Ministry of Martyrs and Missing, because the minister resigned.
In those departments, it is the deputy ministers who are effectively in charge. Yesterday, the Libya Herald contacted Deputy Minister of Agriculture Adnan Jibril who said he had heard nothing about Zeidan’s decision to replace deputy ministers at all. His is one of the eight ministries affected by the Integrity Commission.
In addition, there are also now two government ministers confirmed as taking on temporary responsibility for separate ministries without a minister. International Cooperation Minister Mohammed Abdulaziz has taken on the Foreign Affairs Porfolio, whilst the Interior Ministry has been taken on by First Deputy Prime Minister Sadiq Abdulkarim Abdulrahman. [/restrict]
