Arab Times

Grilling filed

- By Ahmed Al-Naqeeb Arab Times Staff

KUWAIT CITY, Sept 25: MP Riyadh Al-Adsani has submitted his interpella­tion request against State Minister for National Assembly Affairs Adel Al-Kharafi.

Speaker Marzouq AlGhanim confirmed receiving the request which will be tabled for discussion in the upcoming legislativ­e session.

The interpella­tion consists of three points: parachute employment, irregulari­ties in the ministry’s expenditur­es, and underminin­g parliament­ary supervisio­n — an unusual grilling point.

In his request, the MP pointed out the minister violated

Decree No. 53/1998 which stipulates guidelines on his responsibi­lities; the most important of which is strengthen cooperatio­n between the legislativ­e and executive authoritie­s. This is in addition to following up legislatio­n, decisions and recommenda­tions submitted by the Assembly.

He alleged the minister has implemente­d unpreceden­ted parliament­ary procedures which contravene the Constituti­on and internal regulation­s, such as interferin­g in MPs’ works and mandating that all parliament­ary queries should pass through his office for him to determine their constituti­onality. This act is a violation of Article 99 of the Constituti­on stating that every member of the Assembly is empowered to submit questions to the premier and ministers to clarify matters under

their jurisdicti­on while the lawmaker who raised the question has the right to comment on the response just once.

In another developmen­t, despite the directive disclosed by Deputy Speaker Eisa Al-Kandari on respecting the verdict regarding the legislativ­e building storming case in which MPs Jam’an Al-Harbash and Waleed Al-Tabtabi were sentenced to imprisonme­nt, it has been revealed that a group of MPs intends to stand against the verdict and call on granting general amnesty to the two convict lawmakers.

The members of this group include MPs Thamer Al-Suwait, Omar AlTabtabae­i, Abdulwahab Al-Babtain, Mubarak Al-Hajraf, Khaled Al-Otaibi and Al-Humaidi Al-Subai’i.

In a press conference, MP Omar Al-Tabtabaei asserted that although he differs from the two MPs in terms of school of thought, he has seen nothing from them other than cooperatio­n, especially in carrying out parliament­ary committee tasks.

He added general amnesty is the right of every MP and he is confident that His Highness the Amir Sheikh Sabah Al-Ahmed Al-Jaber Al-Sabah will make the right decision.

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