Saudi Gazette report JEDDAH — Thirteen out of 23 Saudi ministries have not yet appointed an official spokesman despite the passage of 144 days since the decision of the Council of Ministers making it imperative for all ministries, public establishments and government departments, especially those working in the service sector, to appoint official spokesmen at their main headquarters and branch offices. Undersecretary of the Ministry of Culture and Information for International Cultural Relations Abdul Rahman Al-Hazza, who is the ministry's official spokesman, said 13 ministries have yet to appoint their spokesmen. He told a local newspaper that the ministries that have yet to appoint spokesmen include Economy and Planning, Higher Education, Islamic Affairs, Endowments, Call and Guidance; Municipal and Rural Affairs; Petroleum and Mineral Resources; Justice; Communications and Information Technology; Defense; Finance; Haj; Water and Electricity; Commerce and Industry; and Housing. Al-Hazza said the ministries that already have spokesmen or those who appointed them following the Cabinet decision are: Interior, Labor, Culture and Information, Health, Education, Civil Service, Foreign Affairs, Transport, Agriculture and Social Affairs. He said public establishments and other government departments which have forwarded the names of their spokesmen to the Ministry of Culture and Information for accreditation include: the General Presidency for the Affairs of the Two Holy Mosques, Irrigation and Sewage Authority in Al-Ahsa, Saline Water Conversion Corporation (SWCC), Grain Silos and Flour Mills, General Organization for Social Insurance (GOSI), Saudi Commission for Tourism and Antiquities (SCTA), Human Resources Development Fund (HRDF), Technical and Vocational Training Corporation (TVTC) and Saudi Arabian Airlines. Al-Hazza said spokesmen will provide the media with accurate information about the activities of the ministries or departments, shed light on these activities to the general public, promote transparency and answer journalists' questions. The Shoura Council recommended the appointment of spokesmen to communicate with the media and reduce the common practice of journalists arriving at incorrect or inaccurate conclusions. Al-Hazza said the Ministry of Interior was the first to appoint a spokesman, Maj. Gen. Mansour Al-Turki, and added that the ministry also appointed police spokesmen in all the regions of the Kingdom. “These spokesmen often provide the media with correct data about any security issue instead of giving them room for inaccurate reporting,” he said.
