New ministers take oath – Grilling postponed

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KUWAIT CITY, March 15: Kuwait’s Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of interior Sheikh Ahmad Nawaf Al-Ahmad Al-Sabah and Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Defense Sheikh Talal Khaled Al-Ahmad Al- Sabah took constitutional oath before the parliament session on Tuesday in line with Article 91 of the Constitution. Article 91 of the Constitution states that before taking up his functions at the Assembly or at its committees, a member of the National Assembly shall, at a public meeting of the Assembly, take the constitutional oath. Last Wednesday, an Amiri decree was issued appointing retired General Sheikh Ahmad Nawaf Al-Ahmad Al-Sabah as first deputy prime minister and interior minister, and Sheikh Talal Khaled Al-Ahmad Al-Sabah as first deputy prime minister and defense minister. His Highness the Amir Sheikh Nawaf Al-Ahmad Al-Jaber Al- Sabah hosted at Dar Al-Yamama Tuesday the newly-formed Ministers, where they swore oath with the presence of His Highness the crown prince Sheikh Mishal Al-Ahmad Al-Jaber Al-Sabah and His Highness the premier Sheikh Sabah Al-Khaled Al-Hamad Al-Sabah.

Grilling
His Highness the Prime Minister Sheikh Sabah Al-Khalid has requested for postponement of deliberations on the grilling motion that MPs Hassan Jawhar, Khalid Al-Otaibi and Muhannad Al-Sayer filed against until March 29. HH the Prime Minister made the request during the ordinary session of the National Assembly on Tuesday, in accordance with Article 10 of the Constitution and Article 135 of the Assembly Decree.

Meanwhile, the Assembly rejected the resignation of MP Yousef Al-Fadalah as only 19 MPs out of 60 attendees voted in favor of the resignation while the government abstained. Some MPs voiced objection to the position of the government regarding Al-Fadalah’s resignation, pointing out there have been several attempts to convince the lawmaker to reconsider his resignation. They argued such a position deprives the Third Constituency of the legal number of lawmakers, while keeping the seat of Al- Fadalah vacant. Assembly Speaker Marzouq Al-Ghanim clarified that Al- Fadalah has two options – follow the Assembly’s decision or face the consequences once the regulations are applied as per the Assembly Decree. Addressing Al-Fadalah, MP Osama Al Shaheen said: “If you want the government to change its position on your resignation, you should attend the ordinary session slated for Wednesday and support the no-confidence motion against Minister of Public Works and Minister of State for Youth Affairs Ali Al-Musa, as well as the grilling motion against HH the Prime Minister.”

Approved
On the other hand, the Assembly approved, in its first reading, the report of the Health, Social and Labor Affairs Committee on the proposal to replace the word ‘servant’ with the phrase ‘household worker’ in the relevant laws. The Assembly also approved the report of the same committee on the proposed renewal of the five-year period for exempting the Public Authority for Housing Welfare (PAHW) from the premonitoring of the Central Agency for Public Tenders (CAPT) and State Audit Bureau (SAB) over the contracts signed by the authority.

Committee Chairman MP Fayez Al-Jomhour attributed the remarkable increase in the number of completed housing projects to the abovementioned exemption. This is based on the presentation of State Minister for Housing Affairs Mubarak Al-Arow who made a comparison of the achievements of PAHW before and after the exemption. He disclosed that during the period of exemption, 114 contracts were implemented compared to 56 prior to the exemption. He added 43,199 housing units were completed during the exemption period compared to 14,000 prior to the exemption. MP Hassan Jawhar said Al- Arow compared the achievements; but he did not say that the number of housing grant applicants on the waiting list has decreased, while the number of housing grant applications continues to increase. By Saeed Mahmoud Saleh Arab Times Staff and Agencies

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