MP Abdulhameed Dashti told reporters that “we have confirmed that the Awqaf minister has submitted his resignation”. Shehab did not attend the National Assembly session yesterday. There was no official comment over the reports, but the minister himself said “it is His Highness the Amir who evaluates national interests in rejecting or accepting any law… and I will remain loyal to the country and the Amir”.
The government had voted in favour of the law in the two rounds of voting in the Assembly and Shehab himself had vowed that the government will implement the law immediately after it was passed. Shehab also wished “we had rectified a number of loopholes in the law that we have agreed to pass” without elaborating. The law, overwhelmingly passed last month, calls for the death penalty against Muslims who insult Almighty God, prophets and Prophet Muhammad’s (PBUH) wife Aisha and those who commit grave religious crimes. But the law insisted that the punishment must not be executed before the judge asks the defendants to repent and if they repent, they get a maximum penalty of five years in jail. Non-Muslims however get a maximum of 10 years in jail for the violation.
Opposition MPs, especially Islamists, warned that if the government rejects the law, they will file to grill the prime minister. Under Kuwaiti law, the Amir, upon a recommendation from the government, can reject laws passed by the Assembly which also can override such a rejection by passing the law again with a two-thirds majority. Shehab is the second minister to resign from the 16-member Cabinet formed in mid-February. Former finance minister Mustafa Al-Shamali resigned two weeks ago after a grilling.
The Assembly meanwhile refused requests by the public prosecution to lift the immunity of opposition lawmakers Obaid Al-Wasmi and Musallam Al-Barrak in order to face trial on separate cases. But the Assembly agreed to lift the immunity of pro-government MP Nabeel Al-Fadl to face trial in a case filed by Qatar’s Prime Minister Sheikh Hamad bin Jassem Al-Thani. During the debate, Barrak and Fadl clashed and exchanged strong language when Barrak strongly criticized former parliament speaker Jassem Al-Khorafi and former prime minister Sheikh Nasser Al-Mohammad Al-Ahmad Al-Sabah.
The session was cut short for a lack of quorum and accordingly, the scheduled debate of the grilling against Minister of Social Affairs and Labour Ahmad Al-Rujaib was postponed until today. MP Faisal Al-Mislem said Rujaib told him that he will demand the postponement of the debate for two weeks based on the Assembly’s internal charter.
During the session, several MPs criticized the government policy on Kuwait Airways Corporation (KAC) and its request to delay the privatization of the loss-making carrier for three years. Head of the financial and economic affairs committee MP Marzouk Al-Ghanem said the committee rejected the government bill on KAC and proposed major changes to the new draft law. He said the committee demanded that KAC must be privatized as soon as possible, rejecting the government proposal to delay the process for three years.
He said that KAC’s accumulated losses reached KD 450 million and these must be paid by the government because it is a state-owned corporation and by privatizing the airlines, the government will not pay the huge sum. Under the committee’s proposal, KAC must be transformed into a company run on commercial basis and that the government will pay its debt estimated at between KD 120 million and 150 million to banks and contribute KD 80 million to the establishment of the new company. The Assembly is expected to debate the issue this week or the next.
