By Ahmed Elumami.
Tripoli, 22 January 2014:
Five ministers representing the Justice and Construction Party (J&C) in the current government officially resigned today . . .[restrict]at the second cabinet meeting of of 2014.
Those who resigned were Oil and Gas Minister Abdulbari Al-Arusi, Housing and Utilities Minister Ali Al-Sharif, Youth and Sports Minister Abdul Salam Guaila, Economy Minister Mustafa Abofanas, and Electricity Minister, Ali Muhairiq. The reason given for the resignations, which were announced yesterday, was the continued poor performance of the government.
Muhairiq had already submitted his resignation on 13 January to the J&C, although not the government, according to a member of the executive office of the party, Mohamed Harizi. He told the Libya Herald that Muhairiq’s resignation was not made public until there had been discussions between the ministers and the party and all had agreed on the move.
No comments have yet been made by the five ministers who resigned, and it is not yet known whether they will continue in post until replacements are found.
J&C party members holding deputy ministerial posts have not been pulled from the government and will continue in their roles.
Harizi said that the J&C political bloc in the General National Congress (GNC) would continue with its bid to withdraw confidence in Prime Minister Ali Zeidan. He said that Zeidan had failed to make important steps towards the rebuilding of Libya, especially during the difficult times the country was currently facing.
Yesterday, 99 members of the GNC released a statement saying that, although they had failed to get a quorum to proceed with a vote of no confidence, they were still dissatisfied with the government’s performance. The statement confirmed the members’ intention to continue their attempt to withdraw confidence in Zeidan. [/restrict]
