The Islamist party said in a statement that it had suspended its president Awwad Al-Dhafeeri and senior official Faisal Al-Hamad, who agreed to the party’s joining of the coalition, and then elected Hakem Al-Mutairi as new president.
The party had maintained that it is not willing to join the opposition coalition because it wanted more radical reforms, especially the emphasis on an elected government and accused parts of the opposition of being too complacent towards the government.
The Ummah Party was the first political party to be publicly established in Kuwait several years ago, although the government has refused to recognize it. It had no MPs in the previous assemblies but only a number of sympathizers.
The Opposition Coalition was officially launched late Sunday night following weeks of negotiations between the various components who included Islamists, liberals and nationalists in addition to trade and student unions, youth activists, former MPs and well-known opposition figures.
The coalition said it will work to achieve a full parliamentary system in Kuwait under which the government will be formed in accordance with the outcome of the elections and on the basis of a multiparty system.
It also called for dissolving the existing National Assembly, scrapping the controversial single-vote law and holding fresh polls on the basis of the old electoral constituency law. The coalition will later appoint members of its general assembly and political bureau.
Separately, the Assembly’s financial and economic affairs committee yesterday agreed to a new formula for the debt relief scheme that according to some members will not cost the government more than KD 300 million.
The meeting was again boycotted by Finance Minister Mustafa Al-Shamali, who is opposed to any scheme to waive interest on bank loans taken by Kuwaiti citizens between Jan 2002 and April 1, 2008. Shamali had also refused to attend a similar meeting on Sunday to discuss the issue.
The government maintains that any writing off of interest on loans will be harmful to the Kuwaiti economy and the banking system.
The scheme requires the government to purchase the principal of the loan, waive all interest on it and then debtors repay the principal in east installments to the government. Previously, the government said that the total cost of the scheme, which also called for paying KD 1,000 for citizens who do not benefit from the write-off, was KD 3.2 billion.
Head of the committee MP Youssef Al-Zalzalah said the panel will finalize the new law and submit it to the Assembly today whether the government attends or not.
In a related development, the Assembly is due to discuss postponing the debate on two grillings against Shamali over bank loans and Oil Minister Hani Hussein over a variety of alleged violations including the cancellation of a multi-billion-dollar venture with US giant Dow Chemical.
The two grillings are expected to be postponed for several months, like two previous grillings against the communications and interior ministers which were postponed two weeks ago until the next term which starts in late October.
The grilling against Shamali was filed by MP Nawaf Al-Fuzai while the one against Hussein was filed by MP Saadoun Hammad and Fuzai. The Assembly is expected to agree to a government request to delay the debate for several months.
