KUWAIT: Influential Kuwaiti political figure Dr Ahmad Al-Khatib was laid to rest yesterday at the Sulaibikhat cemetery. A large number of mourners attended the funeral, led by National Assembly Speaker Marzouq Al-Ghanem and several Kuwaiti political figures. Dr Khatib, who played a key role in the country's independence and transition to a democratic parliamentary system as well as regional politics, passed away at 95 on Sunday.
Born in Kuwait City in 1926, Dr Khatib began his academic life in three of the oldest schools in Kuwait - Al-Mubarakiyah, Al-Anjari and Al-Ahmadiyah - before making his mark in politics domestically and regionally. From Kuwaiti schools' early system of Al-Katatib, which focused on the teachings of the Quran, alongside basic writing and arithmetic, he moved to Lebanon, where he graduated from the American University in Beirut as the first surgeon in Kuwait's history in 1952. It is here he ventured into political activism, establishing, along with several friends 'Al-Qawmeyeen Al-Arab' movement, translated as 'The Arab Nationalists' in 1951.
After Kuwait gained its independence in 1961, Dr Khatib, having had his own practice in the country after working for a number of years at the Amricani Hospital, became Vice President of the Constituent Assembly, which approved the Kuwaiti constitution in a decision made by the late Amir Sheikh Abdullah Al-Salem Al-Sabah, who sought to establish a democratic system and binding constitution emanating from the people. This developed into what we know today as the National Assembly, Kuwait's unicameral legislature. He was later elected a member of the first parliament in Kuwait in 1963, garnering the most votes in the country's first-ever legislative elections, and later attending as lawmaker numerous sessions between 1965 and 1992, eventually retiring from political life in 1996. - KUNA