B Izzak

KUWAIT: An Amiri order was issued on Thursday to accept the resignation of the government just three months after its formation as a result of disputes with the National Assembly. The order also asked the government to act as a caretaker government to run day-to-day urgent matters until a new cabinet is formed.

The government submitted its resignation on Monday following a standoff with MPs who insisted to debate populist draft legislation that the government sees very expensive for public funds. One of the legislation requires the government to purchase billions of dinars of bank loans owed by over a half a million Kuwaiti citizens to local banks.

The government said the draft law is very costly because it deals with over KD 14 billion of personal, consumer and housing loans. MPs insisted that the cost was magnified because housing loans are not included and the value of personal and consumer loans is under KD 2 billion.

The dispute between the two authorities became public after two ministers attending the assembly session on January 10 walked out of the session after MPs rejected their request to return populist draft legislation to the assembly's financial and economic affairs committee for reconsideration.

HH the Crown Prince Sheikh Mishal Al-Ahmad Al-Sabah, who has been delegated some powers of HH the Amir, is expected to begin customary consultations with current and former assembly speakers and prime ministers. After that, he can either rename Sheikh Ahmad Al-Nawaf Al-Sabah or another personality to form the new cabinet.

Kuwait has been rocked by continued political crises between the National Assembly and various government for most of the past two decades during which the Assembly was repeatedly dissolved and many cabinets formed. But the country breathed a sigh of relief following the September parliamentary election when MPs and the government appeared to be on good terms and very cooperative.