By B Izzak
KUWAIT: Opposition lawmakers yesterday threatened to prevent the National Assembly session to convene unless the prime minister accepts to be grilled amid lingering disputes with the government and speaker. Opposition MPs have already filed two grillings against HH the Prime Minister Sheikh Sabah Al-Khaled Al-Sabah and a third is expected soon, but Speaker Marzouq Al-Ghanem and the government say a decision was taken by the Assembly on March 30 to postpone all grillings against the prime minister until the end of 2022.
Opposition MPs insist that the decision was illegal and breach the constitution. The opposition already blocked sessions last month and insisted that the prime minister cannot be protected against grillings. Opposition MPs Abdulkarim Al-Kandari, Shuaib Al-Muwaizri and Marzouq Al-Khalifa said today's session will not be allowed to go ahead unless the prime minister agrees to be grilled. Opposition MPs were scheduled to meet late yesterday to discuss issues related to the sessions for today and tomorrow.
The Assembly office has decided to hold a special session on Thursday to debate the issues of Jerusalem, financial rewards for frontline workers and the controversial issue of holding written high school examinations. Meanwhile, five lawmakers yesterday submitted a draft law proposing to amend the nationality law to allow granting citizenship to children of Kuwaiti women married to foreign husbands.
Under the current law, children are granted Kuwaiti citizenship only if their fathers are Kuwaitis. Kuwaiti women are barred from this advantage. The bill submitted by MPs Adnan Abdulsamad, Ahmad Al-Hamad, Mohammad Al-Huwaila, Saifi Al-Saifi and Khalil Al-Saleh states that citizenship should be granted to children of Kuwaiti women when they reach 21. The children should have been legal residents of Kuwait for a long time.