‘Form new govt in two weeks’

‘Time period stipulated in Constitution’

“SOME of my citizen brothers asked me about the constitutional period, during which the new government should be formed after the resignation of the Council of Ministers under the existence of the National Assembly,” columnist and former MP Abdulmohsen Yusuf Jamal wrote for Al-Qabas daily

“I would like to share my opinion on this motivated by my desire to raise a constitutional dialogue on this issue, in the hope of enriching the subject with more opinions.

“Article 87 of the Kuwaiti Constitution states ‘Notwithstanding the provisions of the preceding two Articles, the Amir summons the National Assembly to hold its first meeting within two weeks of the end of the general election. If the decree of convocation is not issued within the said period, the Assembly is deemed to have been convoked for the morning of the day following these two weeks, due regard being given to the relevant provision of the preceding Article’.

“Thus, the time required to form a new government is a fortnight. The same has happened in all the previous governments without any delay. The two-week period has become binding and implemented in a correct manner in accordance with the Constitution.

“But the Constitution has remained silent towards another issue, meaning that if the government is dissolved during the legislative term of the National Assembly, there is actually no provision to regulate that. Hence, in this case we wonder what the time limit is for the formation of the new government.

“It is clear that logic invites us to adhere to the original period required for the formation of the government after the general elections, which is two weeks, because it is absurd to see that the period given to form the new government is longer than the constitutional binding period that has been given for the formation of the former government.

“Hence, I see that the formation of the government should be completed within a period of two weeks, but not more, because no other period has been stipulated in the Constitution.

“But unfortunately, the convention had followed the contrary. In other words, the convention had dealt leniently in terms of the period given for the formation of the new government, given the fact such used to be extended for a period exceeding the period of the stipulated two weeks and this had been repeated more than on times throughout our parliamentary history to such an extent some people that this had been transformed into an intact convention.

“But the convention will stay steadfast before the valid constitutional text where the period of two weeks required for the formation of the new government has remained valid since the beginning of the country’s parliamentary life.

“Not just that, this period (fortnight) includes constitutional consultations required for the formation of the government and pave the way for holding the National Assembly’s first session to be held post elections, namely the inaugural session of the first legislative round.

“Such being the case, I see the claim that the Constitution has not defined any specific period for the formation of the government is inaccurate, because based on Article 87 of the Constitution, the period is two weeks. This is the only article in the Constitution which organizes and defines the pertinent period.

“Consequently, any interim or caretaker government should not stay more than this period but must form new government within two weeks from the day of the resignation of the former government.

“Given the above, relying on the convention which some people claim to extend the two-week period in question, is a ‘mistaken convention’, because the latter ‘collides’ with the text of a frank constitutional article.”

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Jamal

“How long is it supposed to take to form a government,” columnist, professor at Kuwait University Political Science Department, and an advisor to the Human Rights Watch (HRW) and the secretary general of the Arab Fund for Human Rights (AFHR) Dr Ghanim Al-Najjar mused for Al-Jarida daily.

“If this formation is made after the general elections, the period is two weeks, not three, but in the case of our current crisis, the resignation of the government came during the existence of the National Assembly, no one has the answer to this question because the matter is subjected to political arrangements and their vague waves. As I said at the beginning of the crisis, it will last as long as possible.

“The crisis of the government formation in 1964 revealed an obvious defect in the democratic structure which left behind incurable wounds.

“During that time, the Speaker of the National Assembly had resigned and the then Prime Minister had called for the dissolution of the National Assembly.

“Not just that, a new tendency was merged capable of deviating the march away from the serious course and this coincided with the aggravation of the struggle among the Sheikhs and they used the National Assembly to settle scores.

“This crisis also created gaps to penetrate the constitutional powers to empty the Constitution of its content and transforming it from a promising system of future development into a genuine royal constitutional system.

“In spite of the above, many optimists believed that retouching the then crisis with less grease, was enough to make it an ordinary crisis like any other political crisis, but its timing and the coalitions that were woven on the sidelines of this crisis, had caused pain for the country constitutional structure and it complicated the relevant restructuring process.

“Of course, the demise of the late Amir Sheikh Abdullah Al-Salem less than one year after the crisis in question, opened the appetite for more action, and we found many laws which contradicted with the country’s Constitution were enacted and this resulted in eight MPs resigning in protest and worked to enlighten the citizens on the significance of the direct popular action.

“However, after this development, the then Municipal Council was dissolved following the allocation of a KD 200 million budget for it. This development looked like a straw that broke the back of a camel. The expropriation was wide open and this opened the door for direct intervention in the outcome of Jan 25, 1967 parliamentary elections.

“But it seems the Kuwaiti democracy has not restored its ego since that time even under the truest intensions at all levels. However, although the crisis of 1964 had revealed some structural defects, the latter has been repeated and caused more confusion, but because this crisis surfaced at the beginning of the country’s democratic march, it negatively affected the latter.

“In spite of the above, the formation of the consecutive governments remained a basic element towards projecting this weak political case and the country still suffers from the same.”

“The situation of the Gulf States is surprisingly strange, as if these countries have just learned that the terrorist Hezbollah controls the Lebanese state,” columnist Nasser Al-Husseini wrote for Al-Shahed daily.

“Hezbollah has been a terrorist organization since the 1980s. It has played its terrorist role especially against the Gulf States, including the assassination attempt on the late Amir Sheikh Jaber Al-Ahmad, the hijacking of the Kuwaiti Al-Jaberiya plane and killing two passengers.

“Nevertheless, the Gulf States are donating huge sums of money to the Republic of Lebanon, building power stations and paving roads for them and Lebanon repays them by killing the citizens of these Gulf States and supporting Iran which is promoting chaos in these states. The Gulf States want a decent life for Lebanon and Lebanon wants to kill the citizens of the Gulf States.

“Iran considers Lebanon its chamber of operations to destabilize the security of the Arab countries. This is not new, and the Gulf States are fully aware that Lebanon is an Iranian camp.

“Yesterday, when Hezbollah attacked the Gulf States, Lebanon could not control Hezbollah, but today, however, the truth has become crystal clear and the enemy has been exposed. Today it is not only Hezbollah that is fighting Saudi Arabia, even the Lebanese president and his foreign minister is attacking the kingdom via the media.

“Today, the real face has been revealed after we saw the Lebanese president and his foreign minister claiming that the resigned Prime Minister Hariri is detained in Saudi Arabia promoting the lies of Hezbollah chief Hassan Nasrallah.

“In the end, we write and recommend not helping Lebanon, but to no avail, so I say to the Gulf countries what Lebanon is doing is the result of your generous donations. Your situation is a replica of the Sham proverb: ‘He, who raises a cat, must be ready to get scratches’.”

“Many citizens and other observers were impressed by the steps that leaders of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia took to uproot corruption and hold accountable those who embezzled public funds,” Abdullatif AlDuaij wrote for Al-Qabas daily.

“Many of us have written and commented, calling on the government to follow the example of Saudi’s leadership in terms of taking strict action to tackle corruption which is widespread in the State. What is happening in Saudi Arabia is its internal affair. We do not know its reasons and motives. It is an internal affair related to the people and leadership of Saudi Arabia.

“Each citizen has the right to admire and support the steps taken by Saudi Arabia, but we do not think that imprisonment and detention under the pretext of combating corruption and punishing those who misappropriate public funds are in line with Kuwaiti laws and rules.

“According to our Constitution, the accused is innocent until proven guilty, while Article 32 of the Constitution states that crime and punishment will be regulated by law.”

“A week hardly passes without reading about an expatriate worker committing suicide in Kuwait, and we don’t know whether similar things are happening in other countries,” Arwa Al-Waqyan wrote for AlJarida daily.

“This situation compels us to ask an important question. Why do expatriate workers commit suicide in Kuwait in such a disastrous manner? It’s so bad some of them die of self strangulation and sometimes jump from the top of structures, which is evidence of advanced stages of depression when one feels there is no option of making life easier than death.

“The majority of Bangladeshi workers in the cleaning companies, Indian workers and several others from Asian and African countries are involved in this scenario, and their problems are mostly due to accumulation of debts in their struggle to secure jobs in oil-rich Gulf with the hope of coming out of poverty to prosperity, not knowing their debts will multiply.”

“Russia was able to defeat Japan during their war in the era of Tsar to the point that the people of Japan strongly felt the effect and shamefully sought permission from Russia to commit mass suicide,” Dr Haila Hamad Al-Mekaimi — Professor of Political Science at Kuwait University — wrote for Al-Nahar daily.

“Yes, people of a country decided to commit suicide when they felt disgraced through defeat and deception. The mode of suicide differs from one country to another depending on civilization and prevailing situation but the case of Arabs is completely different; they commit suicide with onion.

“I have an important memory of onion with regard to an incident that happened over ten years ago when I was a PhD student of a university in the United States. I was requested to travel to Uzbekistan to gather scientific materials and carry out a field work. I felt seriously weak with headache in the midway to Bukhari City and my partner suggested I should see a doctor or relax in a hotel. Instead, I proceeded to the vegetable market to get an onion, which eventually rescued me in the course of the journey. Onion is a natural antibody that works very fast and I’m sure that many people have similar experiences, so what could have prompted us to use onion to commit suicide?”

“Once again, the armed Houthi militants are attempting to impose what they believe in terms of the ‘fait accompli’ policy. This aggression headed towards North Riyadh in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia through the pointless ballistic missile intercepted by the Saudi Air Force,” columnist Zayed Al Zaid wrote for Al-Nahar daily.

“This is clear aggression by the Houthis and forces of ousted Ali Abdullah Saleh. It is a blatant confirmation that these militants are still rejecting calls for wisdom and dialogue with the Arab alliance according to official channels.

“The suffering of Yemenis should be borne by Houthi militants and forces of ousted Saleh who implanted destruction in Yemen’s cities, recruited children through fake slogans and neglected the interests of Yemenis.”

–– Compiled by Zaki Taleb