KUWAIT: The government on Wednesday did not attend the regular National Assembly session over sensitive remarks made by a lawmaker deemed offensive to HH the Amir, forcing the Assembly speaker to cancel the session. Ahmad Al-Saadoun told MPs at the scheduled start of the session that Minister of State for Cabinet Affairs Sharida Al-Maousherji called him the previous day to tell him the government will not attend the session.

Saadoun said he later received a call from HH the Prime Minister Sheikh Dr Mohammad Sabah Al-Salem Al-Sabah informing him of the government’s decision not to attend the session. As a result, Saadoun adjourned the Assembly until the next session on March 5, as the next two weeks coincide with Kuwait’s National and Liberation Days.

Saadoun did not tell MPs the reason why the government did not attend the session, nor did the government make any official announcement on the issue. But Minister of State for National Assembly Affairs Dawood Maarafi wrote on his account on X that “Article 54 of the constitution states that ‘the Amir is the Head of the State. His person is safeguarded and inviolable’.”

The minister’s comment is a clear reference to a controversy that erupted in the National Assembly on Tuesday when MP Abdulkarim Al-Kandari objected to the action of the speaker who deleted remarks he made the previous week on the Amiri address. Saadoun decided to delete the remarks from the Assembly’s minutes after finding the remarks were in violation of the Assembly’s rules.

Kandari objected and demanded that the issue be referred to the Assembly for a vote. During the vote, 44 MPs rejected Saadoun’s action, which was supported only by three members and the 12 Cabinet ministers present. Under Kuwait’s constitution, criticism of HH the Amir and his actions and decisions, even by MPs, is totally prohibited. Kandari did not issue any comment after the government’s no-show. Even other lawmakers did not comment. It was not immediately known if the government’s no-show will extend to the next regular session on March 5.

Meanwhile, HH the Prime Minister Sheikh Dr Mohammad on Wednesday visited the Anti-Corruption Authority (Nazaha), where he received a copy of Nazaha’s midterm report from its Chairman Abdulaziz Al-Ibrahim. During his visit, HH the Prime Minister also submitted his financial disclosure records to the authority according to law no. 2 of 2016 on the establishment of the Anti-Corruption Authority. In a press statement, the premier commended Nazaha’s role in safeguarding the country’s funds, combating corruption and applying the law on everyone.