President Bouteflika Is Reshuffling Government

On Wednesday, President Abdelaziz Bouteflika reshuffled four ministerial portfolios, which are: Tourism and handicrafts, trade, youth and sports and relationships with the parliament, while he kept the Prime Minister, Ahmed Ouyahia, in office.

Presidential statement said; “In accordance with the provisions of Article 93 of the Constitution and after consultation with the Prime Minister, the President of the Republic, Mr. Abdelaziz Bouteflika, decided today to launch government reshuffle”.

“The president Bouteflika appointed Abdelkader Ben Messaoud as Tourism Minister to replace Hassane Marmouri, and Said Djallab, as Trade Minister, replacing Mohamed Ben Merradi, and Mohamed Hattab as Minister of Youth and Sports, replacing Hadi Ould Ali, and Mahdjoub Bada as Minister of Relations with Parliament, replacing Taher Khawa”.

“The ministers, whose duties were terminated, were summoned to other tasks without disclosing them. The Trade Ministry will be headed by Said Djallab, who was the General Director of Foreign Trade at the ministry. The governor of Tissemssilet province was appointed as Minister of Tourism and Traditional Industries, replacing Hassane Marmouri”, after the post remained vacant since May, 28 of the same year, the day after the removal of Messaoud Ben Aguoune, who was appointed minister of the sector for a period of less than two days.

The governor of Bejaia, Mohamed Hattab, was appointed Minister of Youth and Sports, replacing Hadi Ould Ali, who was the director of culture in Tizi Ouzou province before he was appointed minister.

The return of the MP, Mahdjoub Bada, to the government staff, is the surprise of the new government amendment, as he had already taken the bag of industry and mines in the government amendment of May 25, 2017, which overthrew the government of Abdelmalek Sallal, before he was ousted in the amendment that fired the prime minister, Abdelmadjid Tabboun in August 2017, because of “bold decisions” he brought in his ministerial circle, then, he returned to the government again from the gate of the Ministry of Relations with Parliament.

The new cabinet reshuffle, contrary to the expectations of many politicians and analysts, who felt that the days of Prime Minister, Ahmed Ouyahia, are numbered at the head of the government and that the issue of removal from office is only a matter of time, because of what they described as weakness and confusion in the functioning of the government apparatus.