Lawmakers file requests to quiz ministers over finances

Two Kuwaiti lawmakers have filed separate requests to quiz the ministers of interior and public works and municipal affairs over allegations of financial and management irregularities.

MP Mubarak Al Waalan said that his quizzing of Minister of Public Works and Minister of State for Municipal Affairs Fadhil Safar would be on transgressing the constitution and violating the principle of justice, administrative violations, mismanagement, financial irregularities, confusion in making decisions and the Mishref Sewage Treatment Plant.
MP Msallam Al Barrak's quizzing move will focus on irregularities related to campaign posters and signs.

Four requests for questioning the ministers have so far been filed in the National Assembly amid pledges by more MPs to question other ministers, further deepening the ominous tension between the government and the parliament.

On Sunday, MP Faisal Al Mislim filed a request to quiz Prime Minister Shaikh Nasser Al Mohammad Al Ahmad Al Sabah on allegations that he signed a 700,000-dollar cheque to a former lawmaker and that his court misused public funds. Shaikh Nasser said that the cheque was a personal matter not related to public funds and sued Al Mislim for breaching his privacy. The quizzing request will be reviewed by the National Assembly in December.

Quizzing requests are based on Article 100 of the Kuwaiti Constitution that stipulates that every member of the National Assembly may address to the Prime Minister and to Ministers interpellations with regard to matters falling within their competence.

"The debate on such an interpellation shall not take place until at least eight days have elapsed after its presentation, except in case of urgency and with the consent of the Minister concerned."