The Mauritanian presidency announced this evening, Sunday, the formation of the new Mauritanian government, which included 22 ministers, most of them from the previous government, which resigned last Thursday, following parliamentary investigations into large corruption files during the decade of former President Mohamed Ould Abdel Aziz.
Most of the sovereign ministers in the previous government kept their portfolios, most notably the foreign ministers, Ismail Ould Sheikh Ahmed, Defense Hanna Ould Sidi, Interior Mohamed Salem Ould Marzouq, Finance Mohamed El-Amine Ould Al-Dahabi, and Islamic Affairs Ould Sidi Ould Omar Al-Taleb, among the 17 ministers who remained in The new formation of the resigned government, while new ministers of justice, economy, oil and culture entered.
The new government included 22 ministers, including 4 women who were assigned the portfolios of the ministries of commerce, industry and tourism, housing, urbanization and land reclamation, social affairs, children and family, environment and sustainable development.
The Minister-General of the Presidency, Adma Boukar Soukou, said in a press statement during the announcement of the new formation, that the formation of the government is directly related to the report of the Parliamentary Committee on corruption, which was referred to the judiciary to hold accountable those suspected of being involved in corruption cases during the era of former President Mohamed Ould Abdel Aziz.
Soukou explained that the Mauritanian president decided to make this amendment in the government in order to ensure the orderly progress of justice and respect for the legislative and judicial authorities, after the report of the Parliamentary Investigation Commission on Corruption was issued, stressing that the president would not interfere with the powers of any authority.
He added that the president decided to remove the ministers whose names were mentioned in the report of the Parliamentary Committee from the government, so that they could respond to the accusations against them and push their innocence before the courts, but he would not hesitate to benefit from the services of those whose innocence was proven by the judiciary.
On Thursday, Mauritanian President Mohamed Ould Sheikh Al-Ghazwani appointed Engineer Mohamed Ould Bilal - who previously headed a number of government institutions - as the new prime minister, hours after the previous government submitted its resignation amid an investigation into allegations of corruption.
The political system in Mauritania was subjected to a major jolt this year with a parliamentary investigation into what was described as major corruption files during the era of former President Mohamed Ould Abdel Aziz, who left power about a year ago, after spending more than a decade as president of the country, after the coup against the first elected civilian president.