Manama: Kuwait’s parliament Speaker Marzouq Al Ganem said on Tuesday that he was informed about the official resignation of the Minister of Information and Minister of State for Youth Affairs Shaikh Salman Al Humoud Al Sabah.
In a short statement, Al Ganem noted the parliament would not hold a no-confidence vote session as initially scheduled on Wednesday.
Parliament was scheduled to carry on February 8 a no-confidence vote in Shaikh Salman following his marathon 10-hour quizzing over alleged administrative and financial irregularities in the two portfolios he was holding as well as causing a 15-month international ban on sports. Shaikh Salman categorically rejected the charges.
Three lawmakers Waleed Al Tabtabai, Al Humaidi Al Subaie and Abdul Wahab Al Babtain questioned the minister as they accused him of not taking the steps that would have helped lift the international ban which has already deprived the northern Arabian Gulf state from participating in the Rio 2016 Olympic Games and the qualification matches for the 2018 World Cup.
The resignation was expected as a way to help defuse the tension that threatened to harm the relations between the parliament keen on a no-confidence vote in the minister and the government determined to defend one of its members.
The government initially stood firmly behind the minister, especially that the no-confidence motion needed the support of 25 lawmakers in the 50-member parliament.
However, as the number of lawmakers who publicly supported the vote against him grew to 34, the options for the government were narrowed down to a mass resignation or to let Shaikh Salman quit the cabinet.
The cabinet on Monday praised the minister’s replies to the MPs during the parliamentary interpellation session.
The ministers, during their weekly meeting, re-affirmed that the inquiry was marked by “controversial and irregular points” and that the MPs who grilled the minister deviated from constitutional and legal norms.
The cabinet extolled the minister for his “convincing responses, irrefutable information and non-controversial facts” he had stated during the quizzing session, Kuwait News Agency (Kuna) reported.
The ministers had expressed support for Shaikh Salman shortly, after the parliament Speaker voiced identical views on process of the grilling saying it was politically motivated and that the interpellators did not stick to the scheduled inquiry topics.
