Discussions focus on need to activate article 50 of the constitution

KUWAIT: HH the Prime Minister Sheikh Sabah Al-Khaled Al-Sabah held meetings yesterday with the head of the Supreme Judicial Council Yousef Al-Mutawa and National Assembly Speaker Marzouq Al-Ghanem amidst consultations to form a new Cabinet. The premier also met editors of local Kuwaiti newspapers and other publications, but declined to provide a timeframe for the formation of the new Cabinet, only saying it will come at the right time.

Sheikh Sabah Al-Khaled, who was the foreign minister in the resigned Cabinet, said the new government will have new faces in the key ministries of foreign affairs, defense, interior and finance - since he was the foreign minister, the defense and interior ministers were removed and the finance minister had resigned. The Cabinet is expected to have a majority of new faces despite the fact that it will serve for less than one year until Assembly elections expected to take place in November next year.

Sheikh Sabah Al-Khaled said his visits yesterday came after HH the Amir's instructions that the heads of the three authorities - government, legislative and judicial - should cooperate over major issues. He said his discussions focused on the need to activate article 50 of the constitution, which calls for the separation of the three authorities, but should ensure their cooperation. He said he benefited greatly from his talks with the Assembly speaker as they discussed ways to bolster cooperation in the coming period.

Sheikh Sabah was appointed as premier for the first time last week following the resignation of the previous Cabinet and after former prime minister HH Sheikh Jaber Al-Mubarak Al-Sabah declined to form the new Cabinet. The previous Cabinet stepped down following infighting within its ranks and accusations of corruption. Ghanem said he discussed several topics with Sheikh Sabah over the cooperation of the government and the Assembly in the coming period, and assured him that he will extend all the assistance to ensure the success of the prime minister and the next Cabinet.

Meanwhile, the interior ministry yesterday honored traffic policeman Athbi Al-Bannai for correctly applying the law against the son of MP Majed Al-Mutairi. Press reports said the policeman arrested the son of the lawmaker for committing a flagrant traffic violation, but the lawmaker arrived and forcibly freed his son from police custody. Mutairi has however categorically denied the accusations.

By B Izzak