Kuwait constitution to guide ministers' questioning

Manama: Kuwaiti Prime Minister Shaikh Nasser Al Mohammad Al Ahmad said the Constitution will be the only guide governing the questioning of the ministers by the members of parliament, a newspaper report said.

"I have full intention to face the quiz and as we are heading towards the confrontation, all topics to be raised in the questioning will be refuted very clearly and within the Constitution and the law," Al Sabah told the Al Seyassah newspaper.

Lawmakers have called for the questioning of ministers, including the prime minister, over alleged financial and administrative mismanagement. MP Dr Faisal Al Mislem wants to question the prime minister while MP Musallam Al Barrak is quizzing Lt. Gen. Shaikh Jaber Khalid Al Sabah, the interior minister.

MP Mubarak Al Wa'alan is questioning Dr Fadhel Safar, the minister of public works and state minister for municipal affairs and MP Daif Allah Buramiya wants to question First Deputy Premier and Defence Minister Shaikh Jaber Al Mubarak Al Hamad Al Sabah. The questioning requests are on the agenda of the December 8 session of the parliament.

Closed doors

Meanwhile, more than half of Kuwait's lawmakers favour holding the questioning of the ministers on their alleged involvement in irregularities behind closed doors, a local newspaper here reported.

"According to our sources 26 MPs said that they wanted a secret questioning of [the] premier while 18 said that the session should be [held in] public. The other five MPs have not decided yet," Al Qabas daily said in its report yesterday.