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SALEH AHMAD HASSAN ASHOUR was born in 1953. He holds a BA in Economics and a diploma in Military Science and Higher Education, served as engineer at the Ministry of Communications, a former Air Force colonel and was member of the National Assembly in 1999, 2003 and 2006, 2008 and 2009.
He was a member of both the February 2012 and December 2012 annulled parliaments. In the July 2013 elections he won fifth place from the 1st Constituency with 3,219 votes.
He was a member of Kuwait Economic Society, Kuwait Alumni Association, Kuwait Human Rights Society, Kuwait Red Crescent Society, Kuwait Journalists Association and Al-Thaqlain Social Charity society.
In the 2016 Parliament election, Ashour won the sixth place with 2,541 votes ahead of his rival Mubarak Al-Harees who got 2,444 votes. In the dissolved Parliament, he was elected chairman of the Foreign Affairs Committee and member of the Health and Social Affairs and Handicaps committees.
Ashour like other Shiite MPs was a supporter of the previous government but took some tough stances on some issues. In the current Parliament he has been elected to the Foreign Affairs and Protection of Public Fund committees. In the Dec 2012 Parliament Ashour was elected chairman of Foreign Affairs Committee.
Ashour’s priorities in the Parliament include national unity, Jafari (Shiite), Court, social and housing care, foreign policy and women and bedoun rights.
Ashour and his Shiite colleague MP Khalil Al-Saleh belongs to the ‘Justice and Peace Gathering’ who operate outside the Parliament. The two MPs represent the bloc in the Parliament.
As chairman of the Foreign Affairs Committee in the previous annulled parliament, Ashour was able to review about 90 international agreements that were pending between Kuwait and other countries for several years and eventually got them approved by the Parliament.
In the previous Parliament, Ashour forwarded queries to the Prime Minister on measures being taken to avoid repetition of Parliament annulments.
He explained the Parliament was repeatedly annulled twice in Kuwait parliamentary life which had never happened since working with the Constitution and that this event had led to serious discontentment among Kuwaiti people.
In his question, Ashour wants to know the measures that are taken to prevent recurrence of such thing in the future and has any committee been formed to study this issue? And if there is a committee, what are results and recommendations given by the committee?
On another issue, Al-Ashour also forwarded parliamentary query to the then Minister of Oil Mustafa Al-Shimali about bonuses being granted to the top officials in his ministry.
In the first question, Ashour said the end of service bonuses paid to officials of oil companies was huge and wanted the minister to provide him with the legal basis on which the indemnity is calculated from one employee to another.
He also wanted to know the source of the money paid to these officials – state budget or from the oil ministry? And why the bonuses were not paid to all employees in the oil sector and why are they paid to only top officials?
He asked the minister to provide him with the names of top officials in the oil sector whose services were ended over the past five years to date complete with their job titles, the amount of money paid in the form of bonuses and on what criteria.
Statements
During one of his political campaigns Ashour said the country is passing through a difficult political phase given the regional circumstances, but “we are confident of the opinion of the Constitutional Court on the process.”
On one occasion, Ashour has called on the government not to make haste for fear of losing the trust of the politicians and Kuwaitis. He also said the government must not succumb to pressures from one group at the expense of the other to make political gains “because the government has been accused of being biased.”
Over the court ruling on the oneman one-vote decree, Ashour said the verdict of the Constitutional Court was issued and a decree calling for election had also been issued “so everyone must respect the court ruling and the decree and this requires serious work and to activate the constitutional ruling and the Amiri decree and any change will add complications to the situation.
During a debate in a session on the cooperative societies’ issue, Ashour said the coops have become sectarian place “as we see all members of Mutran tribe in one cooperative, for instance, another Awazem and the third Shiites, and so on.
“This is the root cause of social problems inside Kuwaiti areas and therefore the political situation especially inside the cooperative societies should be overcome,” he added.