KUWAIT CITY, May 30: MP Khalid Al-Tahous submitted Sunday a 19-page grilling request against HH the Prime Minister Sheikh Nasser Mohammad Al-Ahmad Al-Sabah over the rising pollution levels in Umm Al-Haiman.
Al-Tahous has accused the premier of failure to implement the law and take the necessary action against those responsible for the worsening environmental problems, which pose a grave threat to the health of residents in the area.
This is the second grilling request presented against the premier in the current legislative round. In November 2009, MP Dr Faisal Al-Muslim quizzed the prime minister on allegations of financial fraud in his office.
Speaking to reporters after submitting the request, Al-Tahous explained he presented the document as a humanitarian gesture, since this is his last resort after exhausting all means to address the issue and protect the heath of residents in the area. He pointed out the grilling is aimed at identifying sources of flaws and authorities that may have violated the law. He called on his colleagues to look into the contents of the request before making any comment.
Al-Tahous pointed out no concrete step has been taken to address the problem over the last 14 years in spite of the fact that around 40,000 citizens are currently residing in the area.
In October 2009, he threatened to use his constitutional tools in case the government failed to find appropriate solutions. He also asked the executive authority to strictly enforce the laws
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specified by the Environment Protection Authority (EPA) and Public Authority for Industry (PAI) to hold the erring factories responsible. He lamented the government has not only failed to meet expectations, but it has also been unable to apply the laws.
Stating the Popular Labor Bloc has given the government a grace period of 10 days to revoke the licenses of erring factories, Al-Tahous said the executive did not heed the warning, so he had no option but to submit the grilling request.
Meanwhile, Parliament Speaker Jassem Al-Khorafi confirmed that his office received the request on the same day, adding the prime minister has been notified in this regard and the grilling will be included in the legislature’s agenda for its June 8 session.
“The prime minister has right to postpone deliberations on the grilling within two weeks after submission of the request. In case the premier or the government requests a closed door grilling session, I will ask the Parliament to vote on it. If a majority votes in favor, then the session will be held behind closed doors; otherwise, it will be an open session,” Al-Khorafi clarified.
On the other hand, official spokesperson of the government, Minister of Communications and State Minister for National Assembly Affairs Dr Mohammad Al-Busairi affirmed the government will follow constitutional and legal procedures in dealing with the request. “It is premature to talk about holding this grilling in a secret session,” he opined.
Al-Busairi stressed the government has taken appropriate measures to address the environmental problem in Umm Al-Haiman in accordance with the law. He added the government has also agreed on the need for the Environmental Affairs Committee at the Parliament to submit a report on the issue for it to take the necessary measures in line with the recommendations of the panel. He said the first deputy premier and minister of defense intends to visit the area on Tuesday, indicating the panel members and other lawmakers had been invited to see the government’s efforts to curb the rising pollution levels there.
Submission of the grilling request has drawn various reactions from lawmakers. MP Dr Yousef Al-Zalzalah recognizes the right of all parliamentarians to use grilling as their constitutional tools but, he believes, this is not an appropriate time for another interpellation as the problem in Umm Al-Haiman merely requires proper implementation of the law.
MP Dr Salwa Al-Jassar is of the opinion that the grilling request is doomed to failure. She regards it as a way to implement the electoral program of the Popular Labor Bloc which, she says, has nothing in mind but to grill ministers.
MP Hussein Al-Huraiti stated it is not right to grill the premier over the issue, which is under the jurisdiction of certain ministers. He said the Environmental Affairs Committee at the Parliament has identified the sources of pollution - refineries and oil facilities. He added it is better to allow the government to continue taking the necessary measures to address the problem, instead of presenting a grilling request.
MP Adnan AbdulSamad argued the grilling of Sheikh Nasser is not the right solution, considering many ministers are involved in the issue. He admitted that parliamentarians have the right to grill members of the government but this will not curb the rising pollution levels in Umm Al-Haiman.
In the meantime, Development and Reform Bloc member MP Dr Faisal Al-Muslim said his bloc has yet to discuss the grilling as they are busy with a seminar on the Freedom Fleet, which is heading to Gaza.
Personally, Al-Muslim thinks the government should be held liable for the worsening environmental problems in Umm Al-Haiman. He contended the grilling request has served its purpose even prior to its submission, since the government has taken some measures, such as the planting of trees in the area and this would not have happened if there is no threat to grill the premier. He emphasized the need for the government to face grilling requests as this is part of its constitutional duties towards the people of Kuwait.
Another member of the bloc, MP Falah Al-Sawagh, reiterated his support for the grilling request. He is now waiting for a response from the premier, while hoping for an immediate solution to the problem.
Agencies add:
Residents of the Ali Sabah Al-Salem area, 55 kms (35 miles) south of Kuwait City, have repeatedly complained that excessive pollution from oil and chemical facilities posed a serious health hazard.
Earlier this month about 15,000 students from the area, which has a population of 45,000 and is surrounded by many oil facilities and Kuwait’s three oil refineries, went on a two-day school strike to draw attention to their plight.
Government inaction has resulted in converting Ali Sabah Al-Salem into an “environmental disaster area” with a sharp rise in diseases that far exceeded levels in other residential areas, the lawmaker said.
Several government commissions have over the past few years recommended that a number of close to 150 plants be removed from the area and others forced to abide by environment standards, but nothing was implemented, he said.
The pollution issue in the area was debated several times in parliament and the government was accused of having ignored an official commission’s warning when it decided to develop a residential zone in the area in the mid-1990s.
The government said it has repeatedly cautioned factories with high toxic emissions and sometimes shut them temporarily, but the pollution has persisted.
Almost all the oil facilities and about 150 chemical and industrial plants, which emit highly toxic gases, lie to the north of the residential area, in a country where wind blows southward for most of the year.