Renho tapped for administrative reform minister+

TOKYO, June 6 Kyodo -
Prime Minister-elect Naoto Kan decided Sunday to appoint House of Councillors
lawmaker Renho as minister in charge of administrative reform, rather than
consumer affairs minister as he had earlier sought, for a new Cabinet he plans
to launch Tuesday, sources close to him said.
As for party executive posts, Democratic Party of Japan President Kan plans to
name House of Representatives member Koichiro Gemba as policy chief, while he
is still considering having the 46-year-old lawmaker double in a Cabinet post,
the DPJ sources said.
Kan also decided to appoint State Secretary for Foreign Affairs Tetsuro
Fukuyama to the post of deputy chief Cabinet secretary to be filled by an upper
house member, and lower house parliamentarian Hideo Hiraoka as vice minister of
the Cabinet Office, they said.
Kan and his associates will rearrange whom to pick for the post of consumer
affairs minister, who also takes charge of the issue of Japan's declining
birthrate, the sources said.
A TV presenter-turned-politician who goes by her first name, Renho, 42, came
into the spotlight due to her aggressive stance during public discussions aimed
at weeding out waste in government programs.
Kan determined that Renho is better suited for the administrative reform
minister's position as she worked with Yukio Edano, outgoing minister set to be
appointed as DPJ secretary general, in the discussions to review publicly
funded programs, the sources said.
Kan has decided to retain in his Cabinet most of the ministers who served in
the government of his predecessor Yukio Hatoyama, including Foreign Minister
Katsuya Okada and Defense Minister Toshimi Kitazawa.
Kan will hold a meeting of all DPJ Diet members Monday to decide on the
composition of the new party leadership before launching his Cabinet the
following day.
==Kyodo
2010-06-06 22:04:51


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