KUWAIT: National Assembly Speaker Marzouk Al-Ghanem said yesterday that all the six grillings against the prime minister and two other ministers will be debated in the next session on Tuesday, adding that he cannot say when the session will end. Ghanem also said that the voting on the no-confidence motion against Health Minister Sheikh Mohammad Al-Abdullah Al-Sabah will also take place in the same session, making it perhaps the longest session in Kuwait's history.
The speaker also said that he will ask the assembly to allocate additional sessions in order to compensate the time consumed by grillings so the assembly work continues smoothly. Asked about the intention of MPs to request amending the constitution to prevent unelected ministers from voting in the assembly, the speaker said that amending the constitution must go through a specific procedure that must be followed. Ghanem said that the demands submitted by the ministers to get explanation over their grillings are within the law and the assembly's charter.
The speaker was commenting on a new controversy that threatens to delay the debate of some of the grillings. State Minister for Municipality Affairs Salem Al- Othaina yesterday sent a request to MPs Abdullah Al-Tameemi and Faisal Al-Duwaisan, who filed to grill the minister, asking for some of the issues on the grilling to be illustrated. The two MPs holding the minister responsible for the removal of several tents erected by Shiites to mark Ashura, the anniversary of the martyrdom of Imam Al-Hussein, highly revered by Shiites. The two MPs alleged that the municipality officials ordered the removal of the tents although they were licensed.
The minister asked the two lawmakers to exactly determine the tents that were licensed but still the municipality razed them and asked them to provide the licenses. He also asked the two lawmakers to provide him with the specific decisions that he had allegedly issued to remove the tents. In the meantime, MP Khalil Abdullah yesterday strongly lashed out at State Minister for Planning and Development Rola Dashti for the explanation she had sent to him two days ago over his grilling. The lawmaker said that the minister has violated the law by sending over 45 questions to illustrate the grilling which is very clear and does not require any explanation. In another development, the criminal court yesterday set November 28 to issue its verdict against Islamist thinker and politician Abdullah Al-Nafisi over charges of undermining the Shiite sect and threatening national unity. Nafisi was taken to court for remarks he made at a lecture in which he strongly criticized Iran and a number of Shiites considered the remarks abusive to their sect
© Kuwait Times 2013
