12 May 2010
KUWAIT: The Kuwait Journalists Association (KJA) jointly with Al-Qabas daily newspaper celebrated Monday evening the first year for Kuwaiti women in Parliament. A discussion panel was held in the Kuwait Journalists Association (KJA) premises included MPs Maasouma Mubarak, Rola Dashti, Aseel Al-Awadhi and Salwa Al-Jassar.
The discussion highlighted the achievements of the MPs throughout their first year in Parliament, and was followed by a dinner. The event was attended by the ambassadors of France, the United Kingdom and the United States as well as a number of former politicians, activists and columnists.
Refuting accusations of inactivity in the National Assembly, MP Aseel Al-Awadhi said that MPs should not be judged based on their stances from interpellations or on the number of grilling requests they submit, but rather on the work they produce in committees.
We have been in Parliament actually for seven months; a month after we were voted in. The Parliament went on summer vacation for four months. We resumed work by the end of October, so it has been about seven months for us in Parliament. During those seven months, there were six interpellations, each interpellation consumes about two sessions each, two weeks for each interpellation," she clarified.
Al-Awadhi said that despite all of this time wasted on interpellation sessions, MPs meet in committees discuss and form law proposals. "As parliament members, we should be judged on this criteria; not on how often we appear on TV," said Al-Awadhi.
Al-Awadhi said that a lot of hard work has been put to re-build the image of a parliament member that has been long lost due to the many years during which parliament members did nothing but create dilemmas and grill ministers for personal purposes. "I am in no way asking you to not criticize us. On the contrary, I believe that criticism is quite important.
However, I think that we should be given more time before a final verdict is given; we have only been in post for a short time. I can safely say that we have succeeded in the sense that we have made it to the Parliament. But it is too early to judge the bigger picture," she said.
Rola Dashti noted that the attacks on the four MPs are unfair. "We are expected to solve all Kuwait's problem, and we are only four. This is quite a tremendous task," said Dashti. She noted that accusations of being pro-government are baseless. "There is no such thing as pro-government and anti-government; we all work for Kuwait, all of us are on the same boat.
Parliament members have voted for five of the proposals we have submitted. It has been voted for by all MPs, whether they are so-called 'pro' or 'anti' government. If this proves anything, it proves that we are all on the same boat, these made-up names are unfounded," she stressed.
MP Maasouma Mubarak said that all MPs should meet with the public and speak of their experience and answer the questions of members of the public, not just the women MPs. "The four of us are members of all the committees in Parliament - we should be assessed based on how well we do in the committee meetings. For some reason, this side is neglected, and only the MPs who appear on TV every other day are considered to be hardworking," she said.
Salwa Al-Jassar said that the MPs first year in the Parliament has been a success, and that they have proved to be quite successful. "We have proved our presence in our work in the committees, and there are quite a lot of challenges and obstacles we are yet to overcome. But overall, we hope to achieve more for the people," she said.
KUWAIT: The Kuwait Journalists Association (KJA) jointly with Al-Qabas daily newspaper celebrated Monday evening the first year for Kuwaiti women in Parliament. A discussion panel was held in the Kuwait Journalists Association (KJA) premises included MPs Maasouma Mubarak, Rola Dashti, Aseel Al-Awadhi and Salwa Al-Jassar.
The discussion highlighted the achievements of the MPs throughout their first year in Parliament, and was followed by a dinner. The event was attended by the ambassadors of France, the United Kingdom and the United States as well as a number of former politicians, activists and columnists.
Refuting accusations of inactivity in the National Assembly, MP Aseel Al-Awadhi said that MPs should not be judged based on their stances from interpellations or on the number of grilling requests they submit, but rather on the work they produce in committees.
We have been in Parliament actually for seven months; a month after we were voted in. The Parliament went on summer vacation for four months. We resumed work by the end of October, so it has been about seven months for us in Parliament. During those seven months, there were six interpellations, each interpellation consumes about two sessions each, two weeks for each interpellation," she clarified.
Al-Awadhi said that despite all of this time wasted on interpellation sessions, MPs meet in committees discuss and form law proposals. "As parliament members, we should be judged on this criteria; not on how often we appear on TV," said Al-Awadhi.
Al-Awadhi said that a lot of hard work has been put to re-build the image of a parliament member that has been long lost due to the many years during which parliament members did nothing but create dilemmas and grill ministers for personal purposes. "I am in no way asking you to not criticize us. On the contrary, I believe that criticism is quite important.
However, I think that we should be given more time before a final verdict is given; we have only been in post for a short time. I can safely say that we have succeeded in the sense that we have made it to the Parliament. But it is too early to judge the bigger picture," she said.
Rola Dashti noted that the attacks on the four MPs are unfair. "We are expected to solve all Kuwait's problem, and we are only four. This is quite a tremendous task," said Dashti. She noted that accusations of being pro-government are baseless. "There is no such thing as pro-government and anti-government; we all work for Kuwait, all of us are on the same boat.
Parliament members have voted for five of the proposals we have submitted. It has been voted for by all MPs, whether they are so-called 'pro' or 'anti' government. If this proves anything, it proves that we are all on the same boat, these made-up names are unfounded," she stressed.
MP Maasouma Mubarak said that all MPs should meet with the public and speak of their experience and answer the questions of members of the public, not just the women MPs. "The four of us are members of all the committees in Parliament - we should be assessed based on how well we do in the committee meetings. For some reason, this side is neglected, and only the MPs who appear on TV every other day are considered to be hardworking," she said.
Salwa Al-Jassar said that the MPs first year in the Parliament has been a success, and that they have proved to be quite successful. "We have proved our presence in our work in the committees, and there are quite a lot of challenges and obstacles we are yet to overcome. But overall, we hope to achieve more for the people," she said.
© Kuwait Times 2010
