Kandari to grill finance minister over petrol hike
KUWAIT: MP Faisal Al-Kandari said yesterday he will file a request to grill Finance Minister Anas Al-Saleh over the government’s decision to hike the price of petrol, “unless the government withdraws the decision”. The lawmaker said he will file the grilling request on the opening day of the National Assembly’s new term in mid-October to defend the rights of the Kuwaiti people.
“We have said this before. We will not accept that the government takes even a single dinar from the pockets of citizens,” Kandari said in a statement. “If the government wants to stop squandering of public funds, it has other sources,” he said, adding, “until when should citizens remain victims of government decisions that are not properly studied?”
Several lawmakers have threatened to grill ministers over the petrol price hike, which went into effect at the start of September, but Kandari is the first to clearly state his intention and fix a date. Kandari strongly criticized the government for taking and implementing the hike decision during the Assembly’s summer recess without consulting lawmakers. He also criticized the government for not fulfilling its pledge of taking a series of reform measures along with reducing subsidies on petrol.
Almost all the MPs who oppose the government’s decision want the government to provide a form of compensation or assistance for Kuwaiti citizens for the price increase, like what happened with electricity charges when the Assembly approved the government’s measure which applies only to expatriates and for commercial use. Kandari said that if the government does not annul its decision, he plans to go to the maximum extent in his grilling, a clear reference that he and other MPs could file a no-confidence motion after the grilling.
A number of lawmakers have signed a petition to hold an emergency session on Thursday to discuss the issue, but the request has not yet secured the majority necessary to convene the session. MP Abdullah Maayouf said yesterday he supports holding the emergency session, but acknowledged that it still requires “certain procedures”. He said that the issue must be resolved either through scrapping the hike decision or compensating citizens. In another development, MP Saleh Ashour said he plans to file a request to grill Information Minister Sheikh Salman Al-Humoud Al-Sabah for inviting former Bahraini minister Sameera Rajab, despite her previous support for former Iraqi president Saddam Hussein. Rajab has been invited to address a symposium starting today on Gulf identity by the National Council for Culture, Arts and Letters, which comes under the information minister.