Committee session amid back-and-forth on ’20-’22

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KUWAIT CITY, March 29: The parliamentary Legal and Legislative Affairs Committee on Wednesday discussed the following bills:
■ establishment of the Higher Commission for Elections,
■ amendment of Election Law number 35/1962,
■ unify the salary scale in public institutions.

Chairman of the committee MP Obaid Al- Wasmi and members MPs Hesham Al-Saleh, Mubarak Al- Arow, Abdullah Al-Turaiji, Salman Al-Azmi and Nasser Al-Doussari were present at the meeting. The Financial and Economic Affairs Committee also held a meeting to deliberate on the Retirees Pension Increment Bill.

Chairman of the committee MP Ahmed Al- Hamad confirmed completion of the report on the bill, and that it will be forwarded to the National Assembly for inclusion in the agenda of the upcoming session. He said the committee will meet again on Thursday to specify its priorities, starting with the bills and issues that the committee and government have agreed on.

In addition, constitutional expert Professor Muhammad Al-Muqatei stressed that the second year of the 2020 Assembly has ended as per Article 86 of the Constitution: “The Assembly shall hold its ordinary session at the Amir’s invitation during the month of October of every year. Should no summoning Decree be promulgated before October 1, the third Saturday of that month, 9:00 AM, shall be deemed the session’s appointment date. Should that date fall on an official holiday, the Assembly shall convene in the morning of the first day following that holiday.” He explained that the decision of the Consitutional Court to reinstate the 2020 Assembly necessitates the issuance of a decree to innaugurate the new legislative session. He said the ongoing parliamentary activities and meetings of committees are considered a major violation of the Constitution.

Constitutional expert Professor Muhammad Al-Fili pointed out that the verdicts of the Constitutional Court cannot be appealed. This is in response to the suggestion of some parties for the government to appeal the decision. On the other hand, MP Shuaib Al- Muwaizri said the opposition lawmakers have yet to decide on their position about holding a parliamentary session for the oath-taking of the new government. He affirmed that consultations are ongoing to agree on the unified position of all opposition MPs. Al-Muwaizri, along with several incumbent and former MPs including Marzouq Al- Hebeini, Abdullah Fehad, Soud Al-Asfour, Osama Al-Zaid, Falah Al-Hajri, Hamad Al- Medlej, Abdulwahab Al-Essa and Shuaib Shaaban organized a symposium at 10:30 pm on Wednesday entitled, ‘Will of the Nation’. By Saeed Mahmoud Saleh Arab Times Staff

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