King Hamad Bin Isa Al-Khalifa announced a small reshuffle of cabinet posts on 6 November, with transport and telecoms minister Mohammed Bin Thamer Al-Kaabi and social development minister Osama Bin Ahmed Al-Asfoor both removed from the executive team.
The transport and telecoms file has been taken up by another member of the ruling family, Sheikh Abdullah Bin Ahmed Bin Abdullah Al-Khalifa, who until now had been undersecretary for political affairs at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
The social development job has been given to Osama Bin Saleh Al-Alawi, who had been national economy undersecretary at the Ministry of Finance and National Economy since July 2022.
In September, Al-Kaabi had lost his seat on the board of directors of the Economic Development Board (EDB) inward investment agency (GSN 1,192). The EDB is chaired by Crown Prince Salman Bin Hamad Al-Khalifa
On 17 November, Prince Salman issued an edict also removing the transport and telecoms minister from the board of Bahrain Mumtalakat Holding Company, with cabinet affairs minister Hamad Bin Faisal Al-Malki taking on the role instead.
Al-Malki will also answer to parliament about sovereign wealth fund Mumtalakat – a role that until now was also performed by the transport and telecoms minister.
Al-Kaabi and Al-Asfoor had both been appointed as ministers in June 2022. Prior to that, Al-Kaabi had been undersecretary of civil aviation affairs, while Al-Asfoor was undersecretary for resources and services at the Ministry of Education.
In late October, Mumtalakat said it was considering selling a majority stake in one of its most high-profile assets, the loss-making luxury car group McLaren, to an Abu Dhabi-based fund (GSN 1,193).
