Kuwait cabinet boycotts parliament in new impasse

KUWAIT CITY — Kuwait’s cabinet on Wednesday boycotted parliament for a second day as MPs accused the government of plotting to dissolve the opposition-controlled house.

The government and opposition are at loggerheads over two requests to question Finance Minister Mustafa Al-Shamali over alleged financial and administrative irregularities.

The government insisted on Tuesday that the two grillings must be debated separately while the opposition, which has a majority in parliament, wants to merge the two and have a single debate.

When the opposition insisted on a vote to resolve the dispute, all government ministers led by Prime Minister Sheikh Jaber Mubarak Al-Sabah, in power for the past six months, walked out of the session.

The government ministers failed to attend parliament on Wednesday, forcing the cancellation of the session because under Kuwait law parliament sessions are illegal if no ministers attend.

MP Jamaan Al-Harbash told reporters the opposition agreed that the two grillings be discussed separately on the same day but the government turned down the concession.

“This is proof that the government wants to escape from the debate ... in a bid to prevent exposing serious embezzlements, violations and corruption,” charged Harbash, an Islamist opposition lawmaker.

Adel Al-Damkhi, another Islamist opposition MP, warned that the government boycott was the prelude to dissolving parliament which was elected just over three months ago. — AFP