(C) CABINET RE-SHUFFLE A "MINEFIELD" BETWEEN POWER

C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 02 DOHA 000639

SIPDIS

E.O. 12958: DECL: 09/07/2018
TAGS: PREL PGOV QA
SUBJECT: (C) CABINET RE-SHUFFLE A "MINEFIELD" BETWEEN POWER
CENTERS, RAND SAYS

REF: A. DOHA 515

B. DOHA 475(NOTAL)

Classified By: AMBASSADOR JOSEPH E. LEBARON FOR REASONS 1.4 (B) AND (D)
.

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(C) KEY POINTS
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-- A struggle continues between the Prime Minister and
Sheikha Mozah (the Amir,s wife) over the composition of the
Qatari Government after the July Cabinet re-shuffle,
according to RAND Corporation.

-- The Prime Minister wants to concentrate power in
ministries reporting to him; the Sheikha continues to
advocate for supreme councils created by and answerable to
her in the areas of health, education and family affairs.

-- RAND is advising both sides on a way forward, while
ministries draw up re-structuring proposals for the Amir's
approval.

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(C) COMMENTS
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-- RAND,s analysis and comments from our other contacts
suggest that there is a great deal of jockeying going on
within the ruling family and inside ministries in advance of
the next Amiri decree, expected sometime in October, which
will define the structure of Cabinet ministries and their
relationships to the supreme councils.

-- Qatar is a tiny country with massive resources and
ambitions to match, so it is not surprising that there are
disagreements among those at the top as to how best to
achieve their goals. What is unusual in this instance is
that the Amir has allowed a time lag between the Cabinet
re-shuffle and his next decree, giving space for this
jockeying between powerful factions to occur.

-- While local media have not commented on it directly, it
is well known among the Qatari public that Sheikha Mozah
chairs the supreme councils and that the PM heads the Council
of Ministers, so how the roles and responsibilities of each
are eventually defined will provide a clear signal from the
Amir regarding
which model of government he wants to take Qatar through the
next several years.

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RAND THE REFEREE
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1. (C) Ambassador met on September 4 with RAND-Qatar Policy
Institute Director Dr. Richard Darilek and heard his views on
what he termed a "power argument" between Prime Minister
Hamad bin Jassim al-Thani and the Amir's wife, Qatar
Foundation Chairperson Sheikha Mozah al-Misnad. Darilek said
he was now "more closely involved than I'd like to be" in the
re-organization of the government after the Amir re-shuffled
the Cabinet on July 1 (reftels). There is a "difference of
view," he said, on the role of the independent supreme
councils, chaired by Sheikha Mozah, that had financial
resources and operational power in the areas of health,
education and family affairs, and the ministries that now
nominally handle those portfolios.


2. (C) Both sides, in Darilek's view, have strong arguments
to back up their positions. The Prime Minister, who
previously had no authority over supreme councils, wants to
fold their functions into ministries and/or relegate them to
only an advisory role so that he can exercise greater control
over the direction of the government.


3. (C) Sheikha Mozah, on the other hand, sees ministries as
"bureaucratically inert" and supreme councils as more nimble
change agents for a rapidly developing country like Qatar.
The National Health Authority, according to Darilek, was an
excellent example, as it achieved much more progress in a
short while than could a Ministry of Health.


4. (C) Darilek said that he was now trying to "find a way
through the minefield" between Sheikha Mozah's vision and the

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PM's "henchman" on government re-organization, Minister for
Cabinet Affairs Sheikh Nasser. Darilek said he was surprised
to hear Sheikha Mozah tell him in a September 3 briefing that
she had been totally unaware of Nasser's mission to help
finalize the re-structuring of the Cabinet ministries.


5. (C) According to Darilek, ministries have been tasked
with formulating re-structuring plans that will be submitted
to the Amir for his approval by the end of the month. These
plans, he said, are as simple as defining "what
responsibilities go into each box on the diagram" and a
subsequent Amiri decree will then formalize the role of the
ministries, the supreme councils, and their
relationship to each other.
LeBaron