Democratic Forum launches reconciliation initiative
Lawmaker, ex-MP jailed over primaries • MoH ex-officials flee before final verdict
KUWAIT: Kuwait Democratic Forum said yesterday it has launched a national reconciliation initiative aimed at resolving ongoing political crises in the country and to allow the National Assembly to resume normal work. Secretary general of the liberal political group Abdullah Al-Sanafi said yesterday the initiative was formulated after meetings with the prime minister, Assembly speaker, MPs, political activists and others.
Copies of the initiative have been delivered to the Assembly speaker, prime minister, MPs and various political activists. The initiative calls to cancel a decision by the Assembly to delay grillings of the prime minister and proceed with needed legislation. It also calls to pardon all political activists and remove all barriers on freedom of speech, in addition to a number of other recommendations.
There has been no comment on the initiative. Reports have surfaced in recent days that political foes, who have been locked in ongoing disputes since the December election, have agreed to a national dialogue under the auspices of HH the Amir. Opposition MPs have insisted that any such move must be preceded with a pardon of a dozen former MPs and political activists who have been living in exile for the past three years.
Meanwhile, the criminal court yesterday sentenced MP Marzouq Al-Khalifa and former MP Sultan Al-Shemmari to two years in prison for taking part in outlawed tribal primary elections to select a candidate to represent their tribe in December’s general polls. The court asked the two to pay KD 5,000 each in bail to suspend the implementation of the jail term until the courts of appeals and cassation look into the verdict.
Also yesterday, the court of cassation, whose rulings are final, upheld a sevenyear jail term against two former senior health ministry officials for accepting bribes for awarding contracts. Since the verdict is final, the two former officials, health ministry undersecretary Khaled Al-Sahlawi and health ministry assistant undersecretary Mahmoud Abdulhadi, must go to jail.
But MP Muhannad Al-Sayer said yesterday that the two had reportedly fled the country, and sent a series of questions to the justice and interior ministers. He asked the ministers if the report of their escape was true and if the ministry had lifted a travel ban on them.
KUWAIT: Members of the liberal Kuwait Democratic Forum met with heads of the government and parliament yesterday to present an initiative that they hope would resolve a political stalemate that has gripped the country’s political scene for years.
The initiative includes several items that the group says the government and parliament need to address in order to reach a successful resolution. The initiative calls for the government to withdraw its request for parliament to postpone future interpellations to the head of government, while ministers should comply with answering parliamentary questions to enable members of parliament to exercise their supervisory role within a constitutional framework. Moreover, it calls on the government to bring forward a suite of agreed upon legislative proposals to be approved by parliament which support social justice within its national and democratic context.
Meanwhile, the initiative calls upon the legislative authority to return to operating parliamentary sessions, ensuring positive government participation and parliament’s supervision, in addition to cooperation with the government to adopt important and necessary legislation. In addition, the initiative calls for consensus between both branches to put forward a legislative agenda that tackles main issues with a defined timeline.
Also, the initiative outlines a series of issues that require cooperation between both branches, such as amnesty for all political activists and opinion leaders, abolition of all freedom repressing laws and legislation, amending Kuwait’s one-man-one-vote electoral law, ensuring political and parliamentarian equity, and tackling the economic situation without compromising the middle and lower class’s income and wealth.
“Furthermore, there are other issues such as education, health, employment, housing, amending the population structure and issues related to youth such as culture and sports, that require expansive attention,” KFD said in a statement yesterday. “This initiative, we hope will create an environment of cooperation to achieve with the help of society’s backing whether from political organizations, public figures or civil society.”
Crippling stalemate
“Since the last election held on December 5, 2020 and what preceded and followed it, the Kuwaiti Democratic Forum observed the recent political developments in the public sphere, and what it ensued of intentional and unintentional crippling of parliamentary performance built on oversight and legislation, in addition to the executive branch’s ability to apply its programs and plans, what called for the national movement to return to political life in its constitutional framework,” the KFD statement reads.
“The KDF’s moves come from the feeling of the importance of getting in between warring parties to find a unique initiative which all stakeholders can back, starting from holding a series of talks with public figures and political organizations, in addition to members of parliament and ministers, and most importantly both the heads of the legislative and executive branches,” KFD said. “These talks had a positive response from their respective parties that stress the importance of providing a positive political climate to work for the public good.”
According to KFD, the initiative, entitled “A Democratic and Safe Homeland,” emphasizes the paramount importance of operating within the constitution that organizes the relationship between the National Assembly and the Government to achieve the society’s hopes of progress and prosperity and fix issues that are stalled for years.
“To comply with our national and democratic role as a political organization, and away from any arrangements that could be viewed as lopsided, a Democratic Forum delegation met on Monday with both Marzouq Al-Ghanem, Speaker of Kuwait’s National Assembly, and His Highness Sheikh Sabah Al-Khaled Al-Sabah, the Prime Minister, to deliver a copy of this initiative that holds the results of our talks, hoping that each party shoulders their national and political responsibility to ensure the application of this initiative for parliamentary and government life gets back to normality,” the statement notes.