KUWAIT CITY, Oct 25: The third ordinary session of Kuwait National Assembly’s 13th legislative term gets underway Tuesday with a large number of members of Parliament optimistic that it will be a productive one in spite of the fact that several MPs have already announced plans to submit interpellation requests against various ministers.
The session, which will be inaugurated by His Highness the Amir Sheikh Sabah Al-Ahmad Al-Jaber Al-Sabah, is also expected to witness a clash on the first day between the government and different members of the Parliament over the formation of temporary committees.
The main event for the day after the address of the Amir and speeches by the Speaker and the Prime Minister will be the selection of the Assembly’s Secretary General followed by the formation of various legislative committees. But there is also an expected vote on whether some of the temporary committees should be retained or all of them abolished. The government has repeatedly said that it wants to get rid of these committees while a number of MPs are in favor of retaining some of them.
The agenda includes grilling requests against finance, education and higher education, public works, municipality affairs, commerce and industry, health and interior ministers, in addition to the contentious draft bills, such as the purchase of citizens’ debts, Kuwait Chamber of Commerce and Industry (KCCI), social rights for women, civil rights for Bedouns, and funding of development projects.
Despite this, the government looks more comfortable and stronger than ever before, especially after surviving a spate of parliamentary inquests in the previous round and approval of the comprehensive annual development plan. The government seems to have succeeded in breaking the tempo of grilling on the sports issue by striking a deal with the National Action Bloc for its members to win some vital positions in return for the cancellation of its plan to present some grilling requests. This deal is said to have paved the way for MP Ali Al-Rashed to become Secretary General of the Parliament, while MP Dr Salwa Al-Jassar will head the Education Committee and MP Abdulrahman Al-Anjari will chair the Finance Committee, instead of his previous position as rapporteur.
The possibility that the prime minister will not participate in the election for permanent committees is high; hence, the government have 7:7 ratio on the votes, which means the votes will be even among the contenders.
With regards the Secretary General election, the government cast nine votes in favor of Al-Rashid, while Dulaihi Al-Hajeri will have six votes. The government will also give seven votes each to Yousuf Al-Zalzalah, Khalaf Dumaitheer and Rola Dashti in the Finance Committee election.
The government is also expected to give Marzouq Al-Ghanem and Al-Anjari four votes each, while three votes will go to Ahmad Al-Saadoun, Khalid Sultan and Mohammad Al-Mutair.
Meanwhile, MP Hussein Al-Huraiti described the attempt of some of his colleagues to demand for deliberation on the constitutionality of the step taken by National Assembly leadership in the previous round to remove the proposed purchase of citizens’ loans from the agenda as futile because the Parliament is in charge of the issue.
MP Ali Al-Omair expressed confidence in his bid to become supervisor of the National Assembly saying, “Until now I am in a good stead.” He revealed that he received calls from the Development and Reform Bloc on the need to vote for Jamaan Al-Harbash as chairman of the Education Committee. He said he does not care about who becomes chairman of a committee until the election of its members, after which the issue of chairmanship and rapporteur will surface.
MP Hussain Al-Khalaf posed a question to Interior Minister Sheikh Jaber Al-Khalid on the Scope TV attack. “The local newspapers had earlier published pictures of damages in the station, which were not included in the report of the Criminal Investigation Department (CID), so I demand for a copy report,” he concluded.
In his speech during the second ordinary session on October 27, 2009, HH the Amir had stressed that it was a shared responsibility for preserving Kuwait’s national resources. He also welcomed fresh ideas and suggestions by anybody aiming to bolster and shore up the march of national development.
He also called on both legislative and executive authorities to have favorable and constructive cooperation as “ineluctable” for establishing a distinctive partnership, saying that quiet objective dialogue had to be adopted to consecrate the principles of mutual confidence and mutual respect between government and parliament.
HH the Amir also urged local mass media to live up to their responsibility by keeping away from anything that could ignite sensation or sectarian and communal tensions.
Furthermore, he emphasized that national unity is the cornerstone for ensuring solidarity and integration, maintaining tradition and buttressing loyalty and belonging to the country.
The second parliamentary session came to an end early July 2010. During the second session, members of parliament put forward a total of 196, while the government tabled 42 drafts. Of the figure, 46 draft laws bearing on economic, financial and social aspects were passed. Six grilling motions were put forward against HH the Prime Minister and several cabinet ministers.