Speaker insists no political crisis; tweeters get respite
MP claims drinking water, bottled water contaminated
KUWAIT: National Assembly Speaker Ali Al-Rashed said yesterday that there is no “political crisis” in the country and only “the use of constitutional tools” in the form of filing to grill ministers. “Things are moving in the right direction and there is no political crisis in the country. It is simply the use of constitutional tools ... and I don’t see any problem in using them because they are a monitoring instrument,” Rashed told reporters. Rashed said the available information indicates that the government will attend the forthcoming Assembly session on May 28 when the requests to grill the oil and interior ministers are expected to be discussed.
He said he has official assurances from the prime minister that the government will attend the session on May 28 and which has been confirmed by HH the Amir. The government boycotted the Assembly sessions on
May 14 and 15 apparently over the filing of the two grillings which the government considered as failing to fulfill a promise that no grillings will be submitted before the next Assembly term starting in October. Reports have indicated that the government will demand that the two grillings be postponed for at least one month until after the June 16 crucial ruling by the constitutional court on the single-vote law which could lead to dissolving the Assembly. Other sources said the government may demand that the two grillings, and particularly the one against the interior minister, be referred to the Assembly’s legal and legislative committee to study if it is in breach of the constitution.
In a related development, executives from the oil sector yesterday did not attend a meeting of the Assembly’s public funds protection committee which is investigating the scrapped deal with Dow Chemical of the United States. Rapporteur of the committee MP Saud Al-Huraiji said the executives apologized for not attending yesterday’s session because of the new sweeping appointments in the oil sector and promised to attend later. A number of MPs however criticized the executives and considered their move as an indication of non-cooperation.
Meanwhile, MP Saadoun Hammad claimed that according to the responses he received from the health minister to his inquiries about drinking water, contamination levels have reached 51 percent in various areas around Kuwait. “The minister also said that even bottled water was contaminated and that drinking water in Hawally was contaminated with 51 percent potassium bromate (used to purify water), while the maximum rate is 10 percent as per WHO,” he said, noting that specimens taken from 10 bottled water companies were contaminated. Otaibi added that he intends grilling the health minister and he would call to hold a special session to discuss the issue. “We are looking forward to the May 28 session when the government will have to either attend or resign,” he said, promising to grill the health minister before the current parliamentary term ends. Also, MP Yacoub Al-Sane yesterday proposed a one-off payment of KD 250 for Kuwaitis in the government and private sector.
In another development, the court of appeals yesterday acquitted tweeter Hamed Al-Khaledi who was sentenced to two years in jail for allegedly insulting the Amir. And in a key move, the same court postponed a ruling on another tweeter, Ayyad Al-Harbi, after it decided to refer his case to the constitutional court to rule if article 25 of the penal code is in line with the constitution. The ruling is decisive because almost all opposition tweeters and former MPs have been referred to court on the basis of this article.
Former opposition MP Mussallam Al-Barrak expected that Harbi, who is serving a two-year term issued by the lower court for insulting the Amir, will be freed until the constitutional court rules on the case. Former speaker Ahmad Al-Saadoun welcomed the move, saying that many Kuwaiti activists have been referred to court on the basis of this article although they did not commit any crime.