Sheikh Ahmad renamed as PM

By B Izzak

KUWAIT: An Amiri order was issued on Sunday reappointing caretaker Prime Minister HH Sheikh Ahmad Al-Nawaf Al-Sabah to form the new Cabinet, more than six weeks after the resignation of the previous Cabinet. Sheikh Ahmad submitted his Cabinet’s resignation late January following a standoff with the National Assembly over a number of populist draft ,legislation including a bill calling on the government to purchase billions of dinars of bank loans owed by Kuwaitis.

The resigned government did not attend Assembly sessions from Jan 10 and resigned less than two weeks later. MPs had criticized the slow process of naming a prime minister to form a new Cabinet. There is no timeframe for the prime minister to form the new Cabinet. MP Abdulwahab Al-Essa called on Sheikh Ahmad to form the new Cabinet “by yourself”.

MP Hamdan Al-Azemi said on Twitter that HH Sheikh Ahmad had wasted unprecedented popular and parliamentary support, “but there is still enough time”, adding the prime minister should not include ministers who trigger crises and should only select statesmen capable of resolving the political crisis in cooperation with the National Assembly.

Meanwhile, the controversy over whether the Assembly can hold legal sessions without the presence of the government continued. Speaker Ahmad Al-Saadoun defended his decision to adjourn Assembly sessions since Jan 11 due to the absence of the government, saying he will also cancel sessions scheduled for Tuesday and Wednesday if the government does not attend.

Saadoun insisted his decisions are based on the constitution, which forbids holding Assembly sessions without the presence of at least one minister, adding the Assembly has not held a single session without ministers since the inception of parliamentary democracy in Kuwait in 1962.

But MP Obaid Al-Wasmi lashed out at the speaker, stressing that his opinion is wrong and in contradiction with the constitution. He called on the speaker to step down to allow other lawmakers to hold the sessions even if the government does not attend. MP Abdulkarim Al-Kandari also called for holding sessions without the need for the government’s representation and advised the speaker to abstain from the session and allow his deputy to hold it. Saadoun however said the best place to resolve the controversy is the constitutional court.

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