‘Are you not men?’: Mini brawl in Kuwait parliament after MPs provoke each other
Motion to interrogate Prime Minister has been postponed to 2022
Kuwait City: During Tuesday’s swearing in session at Kuwait National Assembly (parliament), two lawmakers were caught up in a heated exchange. The quarrel occurred with MP Saleh Al Mutairi and MP Salman Al Hulaileh, which would have turned into a full-blown fist fight had other MPs not intervened and held them back.
Al Mutairi and MP Mohammed Al Mutair, were part of the 30 MPs who boycotted Tuesday’s session, entered the parliament to call out the MPs who agreed to postpone the two motions filed to interrogate the Prime Minister, Sabah Al Khaled Al Sabah.
They called out, “Are none of you men? Why are you silent?” Taking offence to the statement, Al Hulaileh charged towards Al Mutairi but was held back by various MPs.
Out of the 34 members present, 18 of which are MPs and 16 are ministers, 33 approved the Prime Minister’s request to postpone the grilling until 2022.
For or against grilling?
The physical attacks on Tuesday were part of a jam-packed day of political turmoil in Kuwait, which opposition figures referred to as a “black day for Kuwaiti democracy”.
The MPs boycotted Tuesday’s session for several reasons from the “government’s lack of cooperation in passing reform laws” to revoking the membership of MP Bader Al Dahoum.
A couple weeks ago, Kuwait’s Constitutional Court issued a ruling that annulled Al Dahoum’s membership based on a previous case where he was charged with “insulting the Emir”.