KUWAIT CITY, Jan 9: Pro-government MPs, Saleh Ashour and Hussein Al-Huraiti, said on Sunday that the Minister of Interior, Sheikh Jaber Al-Khaled Al-Sabah, should have been the one to face interpellation by opposition MPs instead of His Highness the Prime Minister, Sheikh Nasser Al-Mohammed Al-Sabah.
Ashour responded to MP Jamaan Al-Harbash, who allegedly called for the grilling of Sheikh Jaber Al-Khaled on the matter of the Dec 8 attack on MPs by the Special Forces. Ashour said that two ministers cannot be held accountable for the same case.

Opposition MPs are set to meet at the Parliament Monday to plan out their upcoming moves to oust the government after a failed effort to pass a no-confidence motion against the prime minister.
Apart from attempts to pressure the resignation of the government through seminars and public gatherings, it is expected that more grilling requests will be submitted. The requests reportedly will target the minister of oil and the minister of interior.

Anti-government liberal MP, Abdulrahman Al-Anjari stressed on Sunday that the practices of the National Action Bloc (NAB) during the past month was entirely constitutional. “It was a constitutional right to grill His Highness the Prime Minister, it was not a nuclear bomb,” he said.

Al-Anjari clarified on the NAB’s official statement issued last Friday that has asserted the constitutionality of the no-confidence motion in light of the recent severe governmental wrong-doings. The NAB stated that, according to the Constitution, the attempt to pass a non-cooperation motion against the prime minister should have pushed him to resign his post.

Speaker of Parliament, Jassem Al-Khorafi, said that it is useless to request the prime minister to resign after the failure of the non-cooperation motion against him. He added that the prime minister has the right to enjoy the Parliament’s confidence in him. Al-Khorafi further stated that it is also futile to request a Cabinet reshuffle amid the current political tension.

Furthermore, Al-Anjari revealed that the government has been enjoying a monopoly on the county’s land, thereby harming the interests of small and medium sized businesses and the economy. He expressed his hope that a law will be passed next Thursday for an organization to protect those businesses.
“Our main focus is to ensure national interests are met. The country’s challenge is to develop in all aspects,” Al-Anjari added. He said that the bloc will use all the means possible, within the legal and constitutional framework, to serve Kuwait’s interests.

Meanwhile, Salafi opposition MP Khaled Sultan has indicated that the government has been targeting his family businesses due to the recent political tension between the legislative and executive authorities. The government has been executing a campaign to shut down suspect shops and stores around the free-trade zone and the city, some of which included the Sultan family’s small stores, such as a Sultan Center restaurant in Al-Kout Mall in Fahaheel.

Sultan said that the grilling of the prime minister has ended with the majority’s vote not to pass a non-cooperation motion against him.

However, the implications of the grilling remains to be seen through the wisdom of His Highness the Amir, Sheikh Sabah Al-Ahmed Al-Sabah.

Sultan further disapproved of any attempts to resort to the streets and inflame the public for the purposes of any agenda. He stressed that the Salafi Bloc’s approach does not include this method to transmit its points across.

Sultan noted that he will attend the Constitution Bloc’s meeting on Monday and will call for a continued cooperation between the various blocs to serve the interests of Kuwait and its people.