MP Adasani to demand special debate on housing

MP Youssef Al-Fadhalah

KUWAIT: MP Youssef Al-Fadhalah said yesterday that Prime Minister Sheikh Jaber Al-Mubarak Al-Sabah must hold to account corrupt senior officials at the health ministry and answer his questions in order to avoid questioning next month.

Fadhalah warned on Tuesday that he will file to grill the prime minister on March 5 if he fails to support Health Minister Jamal Al-Harbi who wanted to dismiss a number of alleged senior officials from the ministry but was not backed by the premier and the cabinet.

KD 750 million

The lawmaker said that KD 750 million were spent by the health ministry for sending patients abroad for treatment and no one was held to account for this. He added that based on reports by the Audit Bureau, at least 6,540 patients were sent abroad for treatment benefiting members of parliament and others, adding that the report is a proof for the corruption in the health ministry.

Fadhalah said that some MPs have associated grillings and other practices to personal bargaining because they have become used to dishonest parliamentary practices. The lawmaker said that he is not making the threats to make any personal gains, insisting that he entered the assembly clean and will leave as he entered.

Fadhalah said that based on information he received, the minister of health wanted to hold to account a number of officials but his request was rejected and they tried to stop him. He claimed that this is an indication that the "deep state" has started moving to safeguard corrupt elements. A large number of lawmakers have already expressed their backing for Fadhalah pledge to grill the prime minister over the health ministry alleged corruption and several other issues.

Special debate

Meanwhile, MP Riyadh Al-Adasani said he plans to request a special debate on the housing issue to allow the housing minister to brief the assembly on the achievements of the ministry. The lawmaker said that he could carry out his threat to grill the housing minister if new developments take place.

Adasani said that a law to tackle conflict of interests, resolving high prices, preventing any charges on citizens, the issue of revoking citizenship and housing are his main focus in the coming period. He said he has sent a question to Commerce and Industry Minister Khaled Al-Roudhan over the ministry's measures to stop price hikes and the minister asked for some time to answer.