BAGHDAD, July 4 (Reuters) - Iraq's Shi'ite Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki will shrink his cabinet to improve government performance amid frustration at its failure to deliver on security and political reform, a top aide said on Wednesday. "It has been agreed to have a total cabinet reshuffle by reducing the number of ministries from 36, to 20 or 22 ministries," Sami al-Askari, a Shi'ite member of parliament and senior Maliki adviser, said on state Iraqiya television. He gave no indication of when the changes would be made or if the various political blocs in government had agreed. Maliki has said for months he wanted a reshuffle to cull inefficient ministers and bring in more technocrats. On Tuesday, he acknowledged the government's performance had been poor. Repeating his intention to make cabinet changes, Maliki said the decision for a reshuffle "came as a response to the weakness of the performance of this government, which is based on sectarian lines". "The prime minister must have the complete right to select his ministries. At that point, the prime minister can be held accountable for his choices," Maliki said. Cabinet posts reflect a quota system largely based on seats held in parliament by the Shi'ite majority, minority Sunni Arabs and Kurds. This has made many ministers more loyal to their political and sectarian blocs than Maliki. Six ministers from the main Sunni bloc, the Accordance Front, have been boycotting cabinet since last week in anger over legal moves against one of their colleagues. Six others from a Shi'ite bloc loyal of fiery anti-American cleric Moqtada al-Sadr suspended their membership last month in protest at the bombing of a revered Shi'ite shrine in the city of Samarra, north of Baghdad.
