05/11/2023
Arab Times
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| KUWAIT CITY, Nov 5: MP Abdulwahab Al-Essa said the government has failed politically, citing the Amiri speech that HH the Crown Prince Sheikh Mishal Al-Ahmad Al-Jaber Al-Sabah delivered at the inaugural session of the second round of the 17th parliamentary term on Oct 31. Al-Essa quoted HH the Crown Prince as saying that “the performance of the government does not match the citizens’ ambitions despite obtaining the unlimited support of the political leadership.” He added the government must resign; as this kind of relationship with the political leadership should not continue, taking into consideration the current circumstances including the war in the Middle East and border disputes over Khor Abdullah Bay and Durra offshore oilfield while the Kuwait Army chief of staff position remains vacant. He asserted that aside from security problems, there are economic issues like the decline in the profits of the Public Institution for Social Security (PIFSS) in recent years due to the delayed appointment of the Board of Directors. He stressed it is no longer acceptable that the country continues to witness total paralysis in all fields. He pointed out this is an indirect suspension of the Constitution especially Articles 52, 55 and 58 as follows: Article 52: Executive power shall be vested in the Amir, the Cabinet and the Ministers in the manner specified in the Constitution. Article 55: The Amir shall exercise his powers by the medium of his Ministers. Article 58: The Prime Minister and the Ministers shall be jointly responsible to the Amir for the general policy of the State; and every Minister shall be answerable for the action. He then disclosed that based on the abovementioned factors, he declared non-cooperation with HH the Prime Minister Sheikh Ahmad Nawaf Al-Ahmad Al-Jaber Al-Sabah; while affirming support for the no-confidence motion that will be filed against any of the ministers in the coming days. Meanwhile, MP Osama Al-Shaheen followed up the implementation of the flexible working hours system in ministries and other public institutions. Based on this, he asked all the ministers if they issued the executive regulations for Civil Service Commission (CSC) decision number 3/2023 on the flexible working hours in the public sector. He said the decision stipulates seven working hours from Sunday to Thursday, allowing the employees to report for work between 7:00 am to 9:00 am provided they complete the specified number of working hours. He requested for copies of the executive regulations, if any. In addition, MP Meteb Ayed Al-Raathan announced that he is finalizing the grilling motion, which he intends to file against Minister of Justice and State Minister for Housing Affairs Faleh Al-Raqaba soon. He revealed the grilling points include constitutional violations in the recent recruitment of public prosecutors, such as rejecting applicants based on the category of their citizenship. On the the other hand the Parliamentary Coordinative Committee held its regular meeting on Sunday in the presence of the chairpersons and members of various parliamentary committees including MPs Abdulaziz Al-Saqaabi, Muhannad Al-Sayer, Abdulwahab Al-Essa, Hamad Al-Elyan, Osama Al-Zaid, Muhammad Hayef, Fayez Al-Jomhour, Abdulhadi Al-Ajmi and Badr Nashmi Al-Anzi; in addition to members of the coordinative committee MPs Hassan Jawhar, Fahd Al-Masoud, Osama Al-Shaheen, Abdullah Fehad, Soud Al-Asfour, Adel Al-Damkhi and Abdullah Al-Anbai. They discussed the agenda of the upcoming session and agreed on scheduling deliberation on 18 most important bills within the current legislative round. Some of these bills are on improving the citizens’ standard of living, others on developing legislation and some on political reform. Furthermore, Deputy Speaker of the National Assembly Muhammad Al-Mutair recently met with Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of State for National Assembly and Cabinet Affairs Essa Al-Kandari. They discussed various issues. In another development, the 17th Assembly of Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) Parliaments and Consultative Councils started Sunday in Doha, Qatar. It will continue until Tuesday with the Kuwait National Assembly delegation in attendance. Around 100 representatives of speakers and members of GCC parliaments and consultative councils are participating in the event. The Kuwaiti delegation is headed by Assembly Speaker Ahmed Al-Saadoun; and it includes Chairman of Inter-Parliamentary Group MP Hamad Al-Matar, Assembly Secretary MP Muhammad Al-Mahan, Treasurer MP Hamad Al-Obaid and members of the Executive Committee MPs Fahd bin Jame’e, Shuaib Shaaban and Dawoud Maarefi. Secretary General of the GCC Jassem Muhammad Al-Bedaiwi and Speaker of Arab Parliaments Union Adel Al-Assousi will participate in the meetings on the sidelines of the event. They will discuss the ongoing Israeli attacks on Gaza. The meeting scheduled for Tuesday, which will be chaired by Speaker of Qatar Consultative Council Hassan Bin Abdullah Al-Ghanim, will focus on ways to strengthen cooperation among GCC Parliaments in order to adopt the same positions on the issue in international forums. The meetings will also tackle the European-Gulf relations and results of the meetings of female members of GCC Parliaments with the chairperson of the delegation of European Parliament Union for Relations with Arab Peninsula, in coordination with the Latin America parliaments. By Saeed Mahmoud Saleh Al-Seyassah/Arab Times Staff |
