Manama: Political storm clouds are again looming large over Kuwait after a lawmaker filed the third motion in one week to grill a minister.
MP Saleh Ashour on Sunday filed to quiz Minister of Social Affairs and Labor and State Minister for Economic Affairs Hind Al Sabeeh over allegations of abusing the law to dissolve non-governmental organisations and cooperative societies, failing to enforce necessary policies to restructure Kuwait’s demographics and failing to apply development plans to bolster the national economy.
The grilling motion follows that filed on Monday by MPs Omar Al Tabtabai and Abdul Wahab Al Babteen, with 10 allegations, against Oil Minister Bakheet Al Rasheed.
On Thursday, MP Hamdan Al Azemi filed to quiz Prime Minister Shaikh Jaber Al Mubarak Al Hamad Al Sabah, saying that the grilling will focus on Kuwait’s decline in the Corruption Perceptions Index (CPI), financial excesses, the government’s laxity in implementing laws, the non-issuance of the executive regulations of some laws, the revocation of citizenship, the status of the Bidoon (stateless people) and the continuation of the international sports suspension.
The three motions will be discussed by the parliament at its regular session on May 1, Speaker Marzouq Al Ghanem said, unless the prime minister and Al Sabeeh ask for the 14-day hiatus between the filing and the discussion stipulated in the bylaws.
With three motions on the agenda, the parliamentary session is expected to be a real marathon.
However, Al Marzouq dismissed speculation that the three motions could mean unbearable tension between the parliament and the government and eventually the dissolution of the parliament.
“I can clearly and confidently say that the dissolution of the parliament is an exclusive prerogative of HH the Amir, and he is the one who appreciates its causes and timing,” he said. “But I can tell you, based on the information that I have as a Speaker and following my protocol meetings on Sunday that there are no excuses or reasons to dissolve the parliament. The allegations being made, whether on good or bad intentions, about the dissolution of the parliament, are not true. We will deal with the grilling motions within the constitutional frameworks. The session to debate the motions will logically extend from Tuesday morning until the dawn of Wednesday. Life goes on.”
