PM grilling delayed as political crisis brews |
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KUWAIT: The three Islamist MPs who threatened to file a request to grill the prime minister yesterday decided to delay the filing until today morning as the country braced for another political crisis that could lead to dissolving the National Assembly. MP Waleed Al-Tabtabai, one of the three lawmakers, told reporters that they introduced some amendments to the grilling request which caused the delay but the request will be filed "tomorrow at 0900 am".
Speaker Jassem Al-Khorafi and several other MPs made unrelenting efforts in a bid to convince the three MPs to abandon the grilling, but all that fell on a deaf ear. A number of high-level meetings were meanwhile held to study the consequences of the grilling with reports indicating that dissolving the National Assembly is an option.
The country's leadership held a meeting that was attended by the prime minister and a number of senior ministers. Khorafi left the assembly in a hurry to meet the Amir and when he returned, he declined to comment on the outcome. Khorafi also chaired a meeting in his office for a number of MPs who discussed the expected implications of the grilling if submitted.
But Khorafi and secretary general, Allam Al-Kundari left the assembly building at around 2 pm. Khorafi told reporters that no grilling request was filed and any such request can only be submitted during working hours. Asked about reports that dissolving the assembly was imminent, Khorafi said that no one discuss this issue as it is the sole right of the Amir and accordingly "no one should talk about this issue". "I want to affirm here that this is a delicate and critical stage and we all need to be careful about national unity" Khorafi said.
He called on the media to help in stabilizing the situation in the country as "our country cannot bear this and it is not possible to continue living in an atmosphere of crises. It is not possible to come out of a crisis to enter into a new one". Tabtabai meanwhile reaffirmed that the grilling will be filed against the prime minister even if the Iranian Shiite cleric Sayed Mohammad Baqer Al-Fali is deported.
The new crisis erupted when Fali was allowed into the country on Thursday despite a security ban against him. He was convicted by a Kuwaiti court of insulting some companions of the Prophet and fined KD10,000. Tabtabai and several other MPs have warned the government to deport Fali immediately and held the prime minister responsible for allowing his entry, which they considered a breach of the country's laws.
The lawmaker called for re-uniting the post of the crown prince and prime minister, but added that there was nothing personal between him and the premier. Shiite MP Saleh Ashour meanwhile described the grilling as "silly" because of its entire focus on Fali's case saying the issue does not deserve all the tension. Several other MPs also called for restraint and calm, saying that Fali is leaving the country anyway by Thursday.
Three MPs filed the first grilling ever against the prime minister in March 2006. It led to dissolving the national assembly and calling for fresh elections. The assembly was dissolved again in March 2007 after the government told the Amir that it was unable to work with the national assembly for the lack of cooperation. The assembly was also dissolved and fresh elections called. Some MPs have suggested that the grilling if submitted is unconstitutional because the Fali issue is the jurisdiction of the interior minister. They called for referring the issue to the constitutional court.
By B Izzak
© Kuwait Times 2008
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