Opposition issues more warnings on ministers
Opposition MPs yesterday issued more warnings to the prime minister against retaining a number of ministers in the new Cabinet, saying they will spark tensions with the new National Assembly. Opposition Islamist MP Waleed Al-Tabtabaei yesterday added Finance Minister Anas Al-Saleh to a list of at least six ministers who have already been rejected as potential “crisis makers”.
Tabtabaei said on his Twitter account that the return of the finance minister to the Cabinet will trigger a crisis between the Assembly and the government over his role in undermining the “pockets of citizens” and for his major failures in managing Kuwait Investment Authority (KIA), the country’s wealth fund. Tabtabaei was referring to accusations that Saleh is responsible for a series of measures to reduce subsidies and raise prices.
Several MPs have already issued strong objections to retaining the ministers of interior, health, justice, social affairs and labor and education among others. Tabtabaei also charged that a majority of KIA board members have been in their posts for the past 20 years as if there are no replacements for them in the country.
MP Al-Humaidi Al-Subaei called on the prime minister not to include any minister that may cause problems with the Assembly, saying this will be understood by the Kuwaiti people as a challenge to their decision in the general election last month. He said the outcome of the election clearly indicates that the Kuwaiti people want to restore their seized constitutional and legal rights and want development without corruption.
Subaei also said the Kuwaiti people also want measures to safeguard public funds and legislation that require the private sector to shoulder its responsibility in boosting the state’s resources instead of those undermining the income of citizens.
Opposition MP Riyadh Al-Adasani urged the premier to form a government capable of achievement and which will seriously tackle all unresolved issues. He said the latest government austerity measures have overburdened the income of citizens, and as such the economic and financial reform package must be abolished, coupled with curbing squandering of public funds and corruption.
Adasani said that any economic measure must not impact the income of citizens and must not include imposing taxes, reducing subsidies or raising prices. He also called for restoring all citizenships revoked for political reasons and not revoke any citizenship in the future without a final court verdict.
Meanwhile, the constitutional court yesterday received a new petition challenging the general election on the basis that the formation of the election committee to examine the candidates was not in line with the constitution. The court had rejected a similar petition before the elections were held on Nov 26.
The court has already received a petition challenging the election results in the fourth constituency by candidate
Faraj Al-Arbeed, who came in the 11th place, saying that the votes he received should have placed him among the 10 winners. Former MP Mubarak Al-Waalan, who failed to win a seat last month, is planning to file a petition to challenge the counting of votes and other things, he said on his Twitter account.