Bahrain Mirror: King Hamad bin Isa Al Khalifa issued a royal decree appointing Khalifa bin Ahmed bin Abdulla Al Khalifa as President of the Bahrain Authority for Culture and Antiquities (BACA), instead of Mai bint Mohammed Al Khalifa.

Mai had worked in infromation and culture for more than 20 years, during which she was a controversial figure. Being a member of the ruling family gave her the ability to rebel against the ministers she worked under.

She struggled to separate the culture sector from the infromation and make it a separate ministry. This was indeed achieved in 2008. However, the ministry was subsequently abolished and transformed into an authority in 2015.

Bahraini Information Minister Nabil Al-Hamar suffered from her contempt for him and not complying with his decisions, while ministers Dr. Mohammed bin Abdulghaffar and Jihad Bou kamal complained of her not attending the coordination meetings they called her for. Nonetheless, she accused them of blatantly interfering in her work and obstructing her movement.

To avoid being tracked by the information ministers in her actions, she used the Tamkeen Fund as well as the private sector to finance cultural projects she launched such as "Spring of Culture" and "Bahrain Summer".

She was previously relieved of her post when she was assistant undersecretary for the culture sector in the Ministry of Information following a dispute with the minister before being later reinstated and promoted to a minister.

She was preparing her daughter, Sheikha Hala bint Mohammed Al Khalifa, to succeed her as head of the Culture Authority and brought her from Qatar, where she had worked for nearly 7 years (2008-2015), to serve as director general of culture and arts and be her right arm as the ministry was transformed into an authority.

Although Israel supported her candidacy for the post of Secretary-General of the World Tourism Organization (WTO) in 2021, it is noted that she did not meet with any Israeli officials who have visited the country since the beginning of normalization steps, unlike ministries and other authorities. 

Arabic Version