Manama: Kuwaiti lawmakers have called for a cabinet reshuffle hours after Ahmad Al Jassar, the public works and electricity and water minister, handed in his resignation.
According to the MPs, the reshuffle will reinforce the status of the government ahead of the reconvening of the parliament following the summer recess.
“Any reform initiative requires the presence of statesmen who are capable of assuming their political and executive responsibilities and who can make bold decisions in confronting corruption and protecting public funds,” MP Rakan Al Nisf said. “There are currently cabinet ministers who have become a liability in the pro-reform drive and development anticipated by Kuwaiti citizens,” he said in remarks published by Kuwaiti daily Al Jareeda on Wednesday.
Should the cabinet remain unchanged by the time the parliament reopens, standoffs between ministers and lawmakers and successive crises will be expected, he warned.
MP Faisal Al Dawaisan said he favoured a cabinet reshuffle “on the condition the prime minister is given full powers to select the ministers without any pressure from anyone.”
“A reshuffle will enhance the power of the cabinet, and will not weaken it as some people claimed,” he said.
MP Abdul Rahman Al Jiran said the “numerous” challenges confronting the government demand a reshuffle.
“There is a need to improve the government performance and help rise to a specific standard,” he said. “There is a need to do away with the old style of calculations and focus on the challenges. The reshuffle should take place ahead of the reopening of the parliament,” he said.
Al Jassar on Tuesday presented his resignation after a court on Monday sentenced him and 14 former and current officials from the electricity and water ministry to a two-year jail term and dismissal from service and to a KD20,000 (Dh 24,260) fine each. The court ruled a KD1,000 option to suspend the prison term.
Al Jassar appealed the sentence against him, claiming he was innocent.
The verdict was issued over alleged graft in a 2007 electricity emergency deal that cost Kuwait hundreds of millions of dollars.
The ministry in an attempt to deal with the risks of blackouts set up a committee that endorsed the import of several power generators that were found later to be defective.
Al Jassar who was then a senior ministry official was nominated as member of the committee.
However, reports in Kuwait insisted that he refused to endorse the deal and that his membership was frozen for some time.
Former Parliament Member Khalid Al Sultan said Al Jassar, head of engineers in 2007, urged the ministry undersecretary to suspend the deal, expressing concerns the companies would not be able to carry out the power generating projects properly.
