Meanwhile, Speaker Ali Al-Rashed called MPs for a meeting to discuss the political situation in the country as former opposition MPs alleged that the current wave of grillings from members of the pro-government Assembly is orchestrated to eventually dissolve the Assembly before the constitutional court issues its verdict on the amendment of the electoral law.
Hammad said the grilling of Oil Minister Hani Hussein deals with five issues after excluding the contract with Shell. He did not reveal the issues but the lawmaker had sent questions about several issues including appointments, promotions, the Dow Chemical deal, partnership with an Israeli company and others.
The lawmaker said MP Nawaf Al-Fuzai will join Hammad in signing the grilling request while MP Abdullah Al-Tameemi, who was supposed to join the request, said he will speak during the debate in favour of the grilling.
Fuzai confirmed that he will put his name on the grilling request but insisted that he will file another request later this week to grill Finance Minister Mustafa Al-Shamali over the issue of writing off interest on bank loans taken by Kuwaiti citizens.
The grillings against Hussein and Shamali will be the third and fourth grillings to be filed by members of the pro-government Assembly elected less than three months ago after the opposition boycotted the polls in protest against the amendment of the electoral law.
Shiite MPs Hussein Al-Qallaf and Faisal Al-Duwaisan have submitted requests to grill the ministers of communications and interior, respectively. The debate on the former is expected to take place tomorrow.
Rashed called MPs for an emergency meeting today to discuss the political situation in the country, apparently to specifically discuss the causes of the grillings. But member of the scrapped opposition-dominated Assembly Hamad Al-Matar claimed the recent developments in the Assembly including grillings are orchestrated.
He said the next step is to file to grill the prime minister, leading to dissolve the Assembly before the constitutional court is scheduled to issue its verdict against the controversial amendment to the electoral law.
With this measure, the constitutional court will throw out all petitions against the amendment, which is known as the single-vote law, and accordingly the law will be immunised against challenges.
In another development, the public prosecution yesterday freed without bail 15 opposition activists, including three women, after interrogating them on accusations of taking part in an illegal gathering in Kaifan last month.
Also, the criminal court set April 2 as the date to start hearing a complaint by the foreign ministry against former MP Mussallam Al-Barrak for allegedly making remarks deemed offensive to Jordan king Abdullah II at an opposition rally in November.
The court will resume hearing the case of 70 opposition activists and former MPs for allegedly storming the Assembly building in Nov 2011. Also today, the court will try four activists and the son of lawyer Al-Humaidi Al-Subaie separately for taking part in an illegal protest.
Tomorrow, the appeals court will hear the appeal against the closure of the pro-opposition channel Al-Youm and the criminal court will try three activists for abusing HH the Amir’s authorities and taking part in an illegal procession.
