Kuwait’s Emir Sheikh Sabah al-Ahmad al-Jaber al-Sabah approved the appointment of seven new ministers to the new Kuwaiti cabinet.

The new cabinet, which includes two MPs and four Islamists, was sworn in on 6 January after the emir approved Prime Minister Sheikh Jaber al-Mubarak’s latest cabinet reshuffle, the fifth reshuffle since he was appointed to his post in December 2011. The cabinet reshuffle was forced after all 15 cabinet ministers resigned in late December, following the questioning of a number among them, including the prime minister himself.

The latest cabinet will contain new ministers in some high-profile roles, including new oil and finance ministers. The new oil minister is Ali al-Omair, a British-educated Islamist who has been an MP since 2006. Anas al-Saleh, who had served as commerce and industry minister since February 2012, was appointed finance minister.

The number of royal family members in the new cabinet has been reduced from seven to six, following the dismissal of Finance Minister Sheikh Salem Abdulaziz al-Sabah, who had requested to be omitted from appointment on health grounds.

With the previous cabinet having only been inaugurated in August last year, it is now a decade since a Kuwaiti assembly or government completed a full four-year term.