Kuwait City: During Tuesday’s National Assembly meeting, 10 members of parliament filed a motion of no-confidence against the Minister of Finance, Barrak Al Shitan, local Kuwaiti media reported.
The National Assembly announced that voting in regards to the motion will take place next week, August 12. The no-confidence motion can only go through if the majority of MPs vote in favor of it.
MP Riyadh Al Adsani, the MP that filed the motion against Al Shitan, said during the meeting, “the minister did not fulfill his promise, did not explain his economic plan and his continuous failure,” he stressed that “the structure of the minister’s work affected the credit rating of the state and the exhaustion liquid cash.”
The MP went on to point out that Al Shitan was the only finance minister in the Gulf that did not explain his economic plan.
Al Adsani filed a motion against Al Shitan on June 30 for ‘misleading the public, approving a public debt project and depriving retirees from insurance benefits’. This is the second motion filed by Al Adsani against Al Shitan, the first motion was filed back in May.
Referring to his economic plan that was brought up by MP Al Adsani, Al Shitan pointed out to the National Assembly that the economic document being discussed during the session was still a proposal that is being reviewed by the cabinet of ministers. As for the final economic plan, it needs to pass by the National Assembly before it is approved by the Minister of Finance.
In addition, Al Shitan explained that the budget for the 2020/2021 fiscal year will not harm any Kuwaiti citizen.
Al Shitan has been the Minister of Finance since February 16, 2019.
According to the Article 99 of the Kuwaiti constitution, every member of the National Assembly is able to question the prime minister and ministers in regards to matters falling under their role. Once the National Assembly passes a vote of non confidence, according to Article 101, the minister is considered to have resigned as of that day and will immediately submit his formal resignation.
