Afghan president introduces ministers-designates to parliament

Afghan President Mohammad Ashraf Ghani introduced ministers-nominees to Wolesi Jirga or Lower House of parliament for approval on Tuesday. "I did my best to form a cabinet acceptable to the lawmakers, a cabinet responsible and accountable before the people, but the lawmakers have the authority to approve or reject the minister- nominees,"President Ghani said in his address to legislators here.

Unveiling his five-year programs, the president in his speech vowed to bring reform, ensure good governance, create job opportunities, alleviate poverty and stabilize peace and security in the country.

After the speech of the president, a total of 25 ministerial candidates and one nominee each for the national directorate for security or the country's intelligence agency and Da Afghanistan Bank, the country's central bank, were introduced to Lower House of parliament for approval.

The Lower House after scrutinizing the educational documents and backgrounds of the ministers-designates would vote either to accept or reject the ministerial candidates.

Introducing the names of the ministerial candidates to the Lower House of parliament happened more than 110 days after the presidential inauguration on Sept. 29. Since then, all the ministries have been running by acting ministers.

After taking oath as the new president of Afghanistan on Sept. 29, Ghani in his maiden speech announced the formation of cabinet within 45 days, a promise that had been delayed three times.

However, the lawmakers have announced the rejection to any dual nationality holder minister-designate during the process of vote of confidence.

More than 10 ministers-designates have U.S or European nationalities, besides having Afghan nationality, reports said. Endi