Kuwait City: On Wednesday, Kuwait’s National Assembly (parliament) approved the Minister of Health’s, Dr. Basel Al Sabah, request to postpone the motion to interrogate him for two weeks.
Out of the 59 members present, 34 voted in favour of postponing the motion, 14 MPs voted against and 11 abstained.
The motion to interrogate Dr. Basel was put forth by two MPs, Ahmed Al Azmi and Saud Bouslaib, based on three clauses. First the Ministry’s impotence during the COVID-19 pandemic, second the financial and administrative corruption in the ministry and the third the lack of seriousness by the Ministry of health in cooperating with the legislative body.
After the parliament agreed to postpone the grilling motion, MP Al Azmi stated, “every day there are deaths due to the virus and all it is on the necks of all of you have agreed to postpone the motion.”
Although the vote took place on Wednesday, it was supposed to be discussed during Tuesday’s session which was adjourned as tensions rose between the MPs and the government.
Opposition MPs protested a vote that was put forth to suspend any past or upcoming interrogations against the Prime Minister, Sabah Al Khaled Al Sabah, until 2022. As the Assembly Secretary began taking the votes, several MPs went up to the podium to state their objection with the vote.
Prevent clashes
The Speaker of Parliament, Marzouq Al Ghanim, then called in the parliamentary guards to prevent any clashes from taking place. Once all the votes were in, with 33 members agreeing to postpone any grilling motion, the parliament was supposed to vote on a motion to interrogate Dr. Basel.
When Al Ghanim moved on to discuss the motions filed against the Minister of Health, Dr. Basel Al Sabah, MPs protested the decision as they stated that there are still motions against the Prime Minister to be discussed. As the dispute continued, Al Ghanim adjourned the session.
During the session, a mini brawl took place on the sidelines between MP Ahmed Al Shehomi and MP Thamer Al Suwait that was stopped before it turned into a fist fight.
