KUWAIT CITY, Oct 30: His Highness the Amir Sheikh Sabah Al-Ahmad Al-Jaber Al-Sabah on Sunday issued an Amiri Order accepting the resignation of His Highness the Prime Minister Sheikh Jaber Mubarak Al-Hamad Al-Sabah’s Cabinet. The Amiri Order, effective as of Monday, stipulates the acceptance of the resignation, whereby the premier and ministers will proceed amid urgent circumstances as a caretaker Cabinet, pending the formation of a new Cabinet.
The National Assembly will be notified of the order that will also be published in the official Gazette. The Amiri Order stated that it was taken after revision of the National Constitution, the Amiri Order issued on Nov 30, 2016, naming His Highness Sheikh Jaber Al- Mubarak Al-Hamad Al-Sabah as Prime Minister, Decree No. 312/2016 on the formation of the Cabinet and its amending decrees, as well as the resignation letter “referred to us from His Highness Sheikh Jaber Al- Mubarak Al-Hamad Al-Sabah, the Premier.”
The move, headed off a potentially embarrassing noconfidence vote by Parliament against one of his ministers as political turmoil continues in the stalwart US ally. According to parliamentary sources, the government submitted its resignation to His Highness the Amir Sheikh Sabah Al-Ahmad Al-Jaber Al- Sabah. The resignation of the Cabinet means that the National Assembly session slated for Tuesday will not be held due to the absence of the government.
Meanwhile, National Assembly Speaker Marzouq Al- Ghanim said Monday that he has been officially informed about the resignation of the government and issuance of an Amiri decree accepting the resignation. He revealed that he will announce these developments to the Assembly on Tuesday and then adjourn the session immediately after the announcement. He added, “I will not call for any future sessions until the new government is formed.”
In a related development, MP Mohammed Al-Hadiya called on the prime minister to resolve the ministerial reshuffle issue in order to prevent disruption of work on draft laws included in the list of priorities as the citizens are waiting for these bills. He warned that any attempt to delay sessions is a negative message which will affect the joint work of the legislative and executive authorities in the next stage.
He asserted, “It is not possible to tolerate attempts to paralyze sessions or meetings of parliamentary committees because of the negative impact of such acts on parliamentary work. Several draft laws needs to be ratified so the government is required to attend sessions and participate in the meetings of committees.” He stressed that what happened in the last grilling should not be an excuse for ministers to disrupt adoption of laws in the interest of the people and the country. He argued the government claimed it is not afraid of interpellation, thus, it is unreasonable to disrupt the work of the legislature due to the grilling.” MP Abdullah Al-Roumi said the absence of the government in the sessions of the Assembly will disrupt ratification of laws as the opinion of ministers must be taken in discussing anything related to draft laws in parliamentary committees.
He explained this depends on the government’s move and how long it will take to make this move but this will be at the expense of Assembly sessions and failure to discuss the reports of committees. He called on the government to resolve its issues, instead of disrupting the work of the Assembly.
The National Assembly was supposed to hold regular sessions on Tuesday and Wednesday to deliberate on a number of items in its agenda; particularly the no-confidence motion against acting State Minister for Cabinet Affairs and acting Minister of Information Sheikh Mohammad Abdullah Al-Mubarak Al-Sabah. MPs Shuaib Al-Muwaisri, Dr Waleed Al-Tabtabaei, Mohammed Al- Mutair, Abdullah Al-Roumi, Hamdan Al-Azmi, Mubarak Al-Hajraf, Thamer Al-Dhafiri, Riyadh Al-Adassani, Dr Jamaan Al-Harbash and Omar Al-Tabtabaei presented the no-confidence motion after the grilling of the minister last Tuesday. Other items in the agenda of the next session include the formation of temporary committees like youth, sports, housing, improvement of business environment, people with special needs, women’s affairs, family and environment.
The parliamentary Youth and Sports Committee ‘s report on a draft law on sport (some articles on investment and professionalism), proposal to add two articles to Legislative Decree number 42/1978 on sports bodies, and the proposed law on sports development, privatization and professionalism are also part of the agenda.
http://www.arabtimesonline.com/news/amir-accepts-resignation-cabinet/
