Kuwait emir appoints foreign minister as new PM
Move follows refusal of Shaikh Jaber to form government
Kuwait City: Kuwait’s ruler named Shaikh Sabah Al Khalid Al Sabah as prime minister on Tuesday, elevating him from his role as foreign minister, after a row between ruling family members and parliament in the Gulf state led the last government to resign.
State news agency KUNA said Emir Shaikh Sabah Al Ahmad Al Sabah asked Shaikh Sabah Al Khalid to form a new government.
The announcement came after the caretaker prime minister on Monday declined to be reappointed as premier.
Earlier, Kuwait’s Emir had assigned Shaikh Jaber Al Sabah with forming a new government on Monday, but Shaikh Jaber turned him down, apologising. He cited allegations about irregularities and “baseless lies” about him as the reason why he could not be the new prime minister.
“Out of respect to the invaluable confidence of Your Highness and out of appreciation to the Kuwait people, I find it necessary for me first to prove my innocence,” he said in a letter to the Emir.
In a statement on Saturday, Kuwait’s Deputy Prime Minister and Defence Minister Shaikh Nasser accused Shaikh Jaber of not seriously tackling financial irregularities in the army.
Shaikh Nasser, who took the defence ministerial portfolio in December 2017, referred the issue to the country’s top prosecutor who in turn ordered a judicial committee to investigate it.