Kuwaiti Emir rejects resignation of cabinet

Dubai: Kuwait's Emir on Tuesday rejected the resignation of the cabinet submitted by the embattled Prime Minister and ordered the ministers to continue, leaving his options open for intervention to end a crippling crisis between the government and parliament.

The Kuwaiti cabinet tendered its resignation yesterday as parliament was about to look into a request by three legislators to question Prime Minister Shaikh Nasser Al Mohammad Al Sabah, over the visit of an Iranian cleric despite a security ban.

Speaker Jasem Al Kharafi adjourned parliament until January 15 following the resignation of the cabinet. Kuwaiti lawmaker Dr Nasser Al Sanei told Gulf News that MPs and the Speaker were shocked with the cabinet's decision to withdraw from the parliamentary session on Tuesday.

"Some cabinet members were not even aware of the plan to leave the hall ... It took the Minister of Finance Mustafa Jasim Al Shamali a few minutes to realise that his colleagues had already walked out, so he left midway through a conversation with the head of the budget committee," Al Sanei said.

"We were under the impression that the Cabinet would have the support of 17 MPs for postponing the questioning of the Prime Minister. In addition to the 16 cabinet members, the MPs would have helped form a majority to vote in favour of postponing the inquiry," Al Sanei said. Dr Walid Al Tabtabai, one of three lawmakers who filed the inquiry, told Gulf News he did not regret his move and would like to see the cabinet answering the inquiry.