Yaqoub Al-Sanea

KUWAIT: MP Ahmad Al-Qudhaibi said yesterday that the government has succeeded in "aborting" an emergency session of the National Assembly that was due to discuss the hike in petrol prices. The lawmaker said only 29 MPs signed the motion for the emergency session, just four members short of the required number to force the convening of the session.

The Assembly is currently on summer recess and cannot hold sessions unless an absolute majority of its members sign a petition and the government agrees to attend the meeting. Qudhaibi charged that since he and other MPs started collecting signatures for the session, the government tried to evade because it knew that lawmakers would have debated all issues related to the main subject. He alleged that the government preferred to accept the grilling of the finance minister over the emergency session because it is aware that during the grilling, only one MP will speak, while at the emergency session, all MPs would have covered a variety of issues.

Qudhaibi said during the session, MPs would have asked all the ministers to explain the achievements they made in diversifying the sources of income in the country. The lawmaker said that MPs would have also debated the grave violations committed by illegally sending a large number of patients for overseas treatment for political purposes.

Qudhaibi said MPs would have also held the justice minister to account for failing to issue the bylaws of the Anti-Corruption Authority seven months after publishing the law, although it clearly states that they must have been issued two months after the publication. He insisted that there can be no serious economic reforms without fighting corruption, which is "rife like cancer". The Assembly opens its next term in mid-October.

Meanwhile, MP Faisal Al-Kandari, who said he will file to grill the finance minister in the first session of the next term, reiterated yesterday that he will carry out his threat. The lawmaker said that he had signed the motion to hold the emergency session, but since the motion did not get the required support, he will go ahead with his grilling. He said that he and other MPs will not accept any government decision harmful to citizens, adding that the government is required to withdraw its decision hiking petrol prices, which harms citizens. Finance Minister Anas Al-Saleh on Monday welcomed the grilling saying it will give him an opportunity to explain the measures that have been adopted by the government to reform the economy.

Also, Minister of Justice and Minister of Awqaf and Islamic Affairs Yaqoub Al-Sanea dismissed reports suggesting that he had informed Acting Premier and Minister of Interior Sheikh Mohammad Khaled Al-Hamad Al-Sabah about his intention to resign. "These reports are totally baseless and divorced from reality," the minister said in a press statement yesterday, attacking local media for fabricating news reports in violation of professional and ethical rules. He urged the media to uphold credibility and ethics and get information only from his office or the Cabinet. Sane appreciated the support of HH the Amir Sheikh Sabah Al-Ahmad Al-Jaber Al-Sabah and HH the Prime Minister Sheikh Jaber Al-Mubarak Al-Hamad Al-Sabah.

Separately, the criminal court yesterday sentenced Sheikh Abdullah Salem Al-Sabah to three years in jail for insulting HH the Amir and others members of the ruling family. Sheikh Abdullah, the grandson of the Amir's half-brother Sheikh Abdullah Al-Ahmad Al-Sabah, was also ordered to pay compensation of KD 5,000 over defamation charges against State Minister for Cabinet Affairs Sheikh Mohammad Al-Abdullah Al-Sabah. The suspect was charged of posting video messages on Snapchat criticizing HH the Amir, the government and other personalities. The ruling can still be challenged at the appeals and supreme courts.

This is not Sheikh Abdullah's first run-in with the authorities. In 2012, he was questioned for posting comments on Twitter deemed sympathetic to the opposition and critical of HH the Amir. In June last year, he was detained for 10 days pending interrogation for criticizing the Amir. The following month, a court acquitted him in a similar case.

By B Izzak