Ahmed Al-Jarallah – Editor-in-Chief, the Arab Times

PERHAPS, our members of Parliament are not convinced after 56 years of parliamentary work that their task entails legislation and oversight, and not governance, which is under the jurisdiction of HH the Amir of Kuwait assisted by the executive authority (Cabinet). The MPs have no right to transgress the authority of Cabinet or the Head of State.As per Article 51 of the Kuwaiti Constitution, legislative power is vested in the Amir and the National Assembly in accordance with the Constitution; thus, the legislature gave HH the Amir precedence over the National Assembly and not the other way round. Therefore, it’s inappropriate for the MPs to continuously deviate from the abovementioned article.Parliament’s deviation from its status and role designated by the Constitution has reached the point of parliamentary dictatorship and stepping over all other authorities, while refusing to accept responsibility for its transgressions.Consequently, any promise made by the MPs during election campaign is considered deceptive to voters, because they swear to give what they do not possess; just as they have promised to restore the withdrawn citizenship, which is sole constitutional sovereign right of the executive authority, and prevent the imposition of tax and lift subsidies.Recent parliamentary practices that nearly led to indirect suspension of the constitution through announcements by some MPs concerning deals that entailed the restoration of withdrawn citizenships in return for retraction of grilling request against HH the Prime Minister reminds us of the constitutional distribution of roles.The MPs twisted the truth with series of statements regarding the restoration of citizenships, contrary to the reality when HH the Amir of Kuwait delegated HH the Prime Minister and the Speaker of National Assembly to study the citizenship file without making any promise to restore citizenship in a manner that violates the constitution.Also, the MPs threatened to grill HH the Prime Minister or any other minister if their demands and conditions are not met, which violates the law, in terms of yielding to the demand of some MPs without adopting financial reform procedures. They continue to strive toward squandering public funds through subsidies that strain public budget, causing accumulative deficit that exceeds the annual maximum value of KD 7 billion.There’s no doubt that procedures adopted by the parliament in the last quarter of the century incited enormous chaos in legislation and oversight, and cemented practices that almost failed the State intentionally through advocacy of inefficient employees hiding behind parliamentary influence “wasta”.By Ahmed Al-Jarallah Editor-in-Chief, the Arab TimesEmail: [email protected][email protected]