KUWAIT: (From left) Opposition MPs Al-Humaidi Al-Subaei, Abdulwahab Al-Babtain and Waleed Al-Tabtabaei, who filed to grill the minister of information and youth, arrive for a session at the National Assembly yesterday. — Photo by Yasser Al-Zayyat

KUWAIT: Three opposition lawmakers yesterday carried out their threat and filed to grill Minister of Information and Youth Sheikh Salman Al-Humoud Al-Sabah for allegedly failing to do enough to end an international ban on Kuwaiti sports. The lawmakers - Waleed Al-Tabtabaei, Al-Humaidi Al-Subaei and Abdulwahab Al-Babtain - also charged the minister of committing a variety of financial and administrative violations in the two ministries.

The grilling blamed the minister for playing a key role in triggering the international suspension on Kuwaiti sports by the International Olympic Committee (IOC), world football body FIFA and several other federations. They also charged him of failing to take the necessary and appropriate steps demanded by IOC and FIFA to end the suspension, which ultimately barred Kuwait from taking part in the qualifiers for the 2019 Asian Cup last week.

The lawmakers claimed that the minister has refused to implement requirements and standards demanded by the international sports organizations, which have maintained the ban. "The minister did not take the necessary measures to resolve the sports crisis in Kuwait and lift the suspension despite the repeated ultimatums that were given to him," the grilling said. "The minister has caused to deprive a generation from external sports participations," it added.

IOC, FIFA and several international sports federations suspended Kuwaiti sports bodies in Oct 2015 over alleged government interference in sports. Sheikh Salman and other sports dignitaries had directly accused Kuwaitis with leading positions in international sports and prominent figures leading Kuwaiti sports bodies of orchestrating the suspension, which they described as illegal.

Exploiting the presence of a totally pro-government National Assembly in the past few years, the government introduced a number of legislative amendments including a 2016 law that complicated the suspension crisis. Sheikh Salman implemented the law in August by dissolving the Kuwait Olympic Committee, Kuwait Football Association and several sports federations over alleged misappropriation of public funds and administrative violations.

But with the election of the new Assembly in November, the picture has partially changed. Opposition MPs pressured the minister and the government to accept to change the controversial laws to be compatible with the Olympic Charter and to write to the IOC and FIFA requesting a temporary lifting of the ban until the law has been amended.

Both the IOC and FIFA rejected Kuwait's request. IOC demanded three conditions to lift the ban - the amendment of the laws, withdrawing of all court cases and reinstating all dissolved sports bodies. Sheikh Salman refused to accept the second and third conditions, and only promised to withdraw the court cases as part of a comprehensive settlement with IOC, which rejected the offer outright. IOC even said the Kuwaiti sports situation had deteriorated further and demanded concrete steps to lift the ban.

The three lawmakers recounted the minister's involvement in sports since he was appointed minister in 2012 and how he played a key role in changing a milestone sports law issued in 2012 and which was compatible with the Olympic Charter. They said the minister was instrumental in getting sports legislations passed in the previous Assembly and which eventually led to the suspension of Kuwait. They questioned the minister about enacting those legislations without consulting the IOC, and then later compounded the situation by dissolving local sports bodies recognized by international sports organizations.

The grilling also accused the minister of squandering public funds and not taking any measure to stop it at the youth and information ministries and at the public sports authority. It also accused the minister of committing a number of administrative violations in several appointments in the information ministry. Finally, the grilling charged that the ministry played an active role in issuing a number of laws and decisions that negatively impacted the freedom of press and speech in Kuwait, citing the electronic crimes law as an example.

Assembly Speaker Marzouq Al-Ghanem said the grilling will be placed on the agenda of the Jan 31 session and if the minister wants to delay the debate, he has to seek approval from the Assembly. The debate of the grilling could lead to a vote of no-confidence, which will lead to the minister's dismissal if approved by half of the Assembly's 50 elected members.

By B Izzak