‘Implement recommendations on Al-Rasheedi grilling’

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MP threatens PM with interpellation

KUWAIT CITY, Sept 6: MP Omar Al-Tabtabaei intends to submit a grilling motion against His Highness the Prime Minister Sheikh Jaber Al-Mubarak if the recommendations of the governmental committee that reviewed his interpellation of Oil Minister Bakheet Al- Rasheedi are not implemented.

The MP elaborated that after the interpellation of Al-Rasheedi in May, the government formed a committee to review the grilling points and the committee submitted its report to the government recently. “I have not seen the report, but I am confident that it is positive and includes recommendations which the government must implement,” said the MP adding that he already requested for a copy of the report as he wants to go through it.

He pointed out the oil sector is riddled with corruption and malpractices so if these recommendations are not implemented, he will be forced to submit an interpellation motion against the prime minister considering he heads the Petroleum Higher Council and he responsible for the failures of the oil sector – “the vein of the country.”

Some of the important issues highlighted by the MP include the Vietnam refinery which he described as complete failure from the beginning, as well as Zour refinery that is riddled with malpractices such as foul play in definitions and terminologies to fortify the alleged viability of the design only to fall through later because the Ministry of Electricity and Water does not need petrol oil which will be produced by the refineries.

Al-Tabtabaei went on to say that even if the minister of electricity and water stated that redesigning the refineries will bring huge revenues, a fortune must be spent to redesign and reassemble the refineries.

Therefore, more public funds will be needed due to the negligence and incompetence of officials operating the oil sector, he added. “A lot of people assumed that the interpellation of the minister of oil signalled the end of the issue,” said the MP while asserting it was just the beginning of a long journey towards addressing numerous issues in the oil sector.

In another development, MP Mubarak Al-Hurais was baffled upon learning that some MPs are demanding for the resignation of Minister of Education and Higher Education Hamed Al-Azmi due to the frequent breakdown of air conditioning units in public schools. In a press conference at the National Assembly, the MP affirmed everyone is monitoring developments on this issue, “but we should not jump straight to demanding resignation of Al-Azmi considering he spearheaded the discovery of fraudulent certificates and credentials —t a feat which should not be disregarded simply because a new issue has emerged.” He said no one called for the resignation of the minister of defense after the incident at the officers college, even though the case was of a bigger scale than the malfunctioning air conditioning units. He called on his colleagues to operate with “one ruler” and extend a helping hand to the minister since he has proven himself to be competent as witnessed by the entire Assembly.

Furthermore, due to the increasing number of maritime accidents along the northern and southern coasts of the country, MP Abdulkareem Al-Kandari submitted a proposal to increase the number of coastal emergency response points around these areas to ensure the quickest possible response time in case of emergency.

By Ahmed Al-Naqeeb Arab Times Staff

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