MP Faisal Al-Kandari

KUWAIT: MP Faisal Al-Kandari said yesterday that he and two other lawmakers are still determined to grill Oil Minister Bakheet Al-Rasheedi over alleged financial violations even after he has provided a key investigation report to the national assembly. Kandari said the minister was supposed to provide the report on Sunday based on a resolution by the national assembly but he did not and provided the report on Monday after the three MPs said they will grill him. The lawmaker said that the grilling will go ahead as planned after the grilling of the prime minister next week.

In the meantime, the National Democratic Alliance (NDA), a liberal grouping, yesterday welcomed the amendment approved by the legal committee to allow granting Kuwaiti citizenship to non-Muslims. The NDA said that the amendment is a correction for an unconstitutional law enacted by the 1981 national assembly which deprives non-Muslims from the right to become Kuwaiti, adding that this provision was not present in the original Kuwaiti nationality law issued in 1959. Liberal MP Rakan Al-Nisf also supported the move and called on the national assembly to approve the amendment soon. MP Saadoun Hammad however said he will oppose the amendment.

By B Izzak