Saturday, September 13, 2008

Ministerial change out – the real story part II?

Rumors over the weekend swirled in the Arabic blogosphere and in the sitting rooms of the great and the good, all about what could be the reason for the apparent dismissal of Minister HE Dr Juma Al Juma. And I feel they are substantive enough to now report here for your edification.

Bottom line of the story being circulated: it seems that HE Juma owned a building adjacent to the usual landing approach path to Muscat International airport, next to the Shell station by the motorway. He had a 4th floor added, but it seems, allegedly, the permit for the extra floor was not actually legitimate but was, er, lets say 'illicit'. The height of the addition was in reality too high for FIA regulations concerning the height of things near approach paths, which was why a real permit couldn't be issued, and the additional floor is now apparently being physically removed.

I must admit, it is hard to believe that a Minister would be so silly to deliberately bend such rules for a relatively small amount of money to be gained. But that is the rumor, heard from several sources, several very, very highly placed. (I’d link you to the Arabic comments made over the weekend, but they have been removed).

1 comment:

  1. I edited this comment and reposted it to avoid any potential libel. Sorry Yuseff, but we have to be careful...

    Yuseff commented:
    I've also heard this rumor and discussed it with various people, and non of us could agree that this is the main reason.

    According to many opinions, it could be said that the Minister Al Juma was not really liked among the other ministers. Being that, one or several ministers talked badly about Al Juma to HM, placing the reason of his removal as the silly building issue. Other rumors that have circulated is that his personal life were the reason of his removal - [rest of this paragraph removed: edited by Dragon].

    I personally assume that he had lots of personal problems, which accumulated and caused this ultimate result.

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