Al-Ghanim played it right

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IRRESPECTIVE of the considerations that led the MPs to propose the amnesty laws or other laws that are intended to tickle the feelings of voters and wipe clean the reputation of the MPs in their constituencies, it does not mean tossing out parliamentary work through brawls, fights, insults and threats.

Such kind of parliamentary attitude is far from the democratic approach that entails freedom of opinion and expression. It is unfortunate that such behaviors, which could be seen among commoners, are being displayed by the elite of the society who are supposed to enact civilized laws that elevate Kuwait and its people.

It is truetthat the Parliament is its own master, but before anything else, it represents the mirror through which Kuwaitis see themselves. Therefore, if this mirror is shattered, it means entrenching chaos as a general social behavior.

Did the parliamentarians realize this when they transformed Abdullah Al-Salem Hall into a wrestling arena by fighting with fists and exchanging absurd insults? If this is democracy, then it is a miserable one that brings devastation on Kuwait and its people.

We had repeatedly warned in the past about what transpired in the National Assembly; and this is before the ‘ax fell …’

We had stressed that the continuous persistence of the legislative authority to interfere with the authority of the government, and the dictatorship exercised by the MPs, which was manifested in the most horrific form in the past two days, will lead to such a situation. This is because the MPs are accustomed to imposing everything they want on the ministers who quickly fall victim to their fear of maliciousness in constitutional accountability, due to which the government works to appease the MPs with anything they want.

When the time comes for the government to put its foot down for rectifying matters, the Parliament brandishes interpellation threats and vote of no-confidence in a manner almost similar to the tactics used by gangs and mafias to blackmail instead of proper use of the constitutional tools.

This fact has rendered anything that happened in the National Assembly since the beginning of the current session as a bad omen. It has become a source of disgust for Kuwaitis who end up feeling sorry for their choice of these representatives.

Instead of the MPs launching proper legislative workshops, they launch populist proposals that are useless, jumbling such proposals in a manner similar to rabbits that come out of a magician’s hat, let alone their persistence in interfering in governmental affairs under the pretext of approaching parliamentary elections.

They consider their final parliamentary term to be their opportunity to prove their dominance, in the hope of increasing their electoral balance, after their failure throughout the past years.

Unfortunately, the legislative authority no longer plays its natural role, which is legislation and oversight of the actions of ministers and ministries, and instead holds the ministers accountable for their stances or the words they uttered years ago when they were not occupying the ministerial post, and dig into their past in search for skeletons just for political gain or to claim fictitious heroism.

They are ignoring the fact that they are engulfed in corruption and sins which are indicated from their desire to pass illegal transactions, or tamper with projects that are profitable for Kuwait because either they have no share in it, or that project did not land on one of their own.

In all democracies around the world, the legislature work is to hold ministers accountable for their actions and not for their personalities, but as it seems Kuwait is different in this regard. This is because once the choice is made for someone to occupy a ministerial position, he or she becomes a target for archers of suspicion and parliamentary extortion. Some ministers did not stay in their posts for two months because of hidden bad intentions since the announcement of their names as ministers, for reasons that are mildly underrepresented, and flimsiness of the national responsibility of the MPs.

Finally, it is safe to say that those who study the events of the theatrical sabotage orchestrated by some MPs during the parliamentary session, they are well aware of the statesmanship of the National Assembly Speaker Marzouq Al-Ghanim and how he played it right to foil the shenanigans of some who are seeking personal gains at the expense of the national interest.

By Ahmed Al-Jarallah

Editor-in-Chief, the Arab Times

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