The National Assembly

By B Izzak

KUWAIT: Thirty opposition lawmakers yesterday decided to prevent Assembly sessions from taking place unless they are allowed to grill HH the Prime Minister. The decision came during a meeting of the 30 MPs on Saturday night to discuss the political developments in the country. All the lawmakers then wrote on their Twitter accounts the same message that unless the Prime Minister takes the podium to be questioned, there will be no Assembly sessions. The Assembly is scheduled to hold its regular sessions tomorrow and Wednesday.

During the Assembly session on March 30, boycotted by the opposition, the Assembly decided to postpone grillings of His Highness the Prime Minister Sheikh Sabah Al-Khaled Al-Sabah until the end of 2022. Opposition MPs say the decision is illegal because the counting of votes was not done in accordance with the law and the postponement is against the constitution because grillings cannot be postponed for such lengthy periods.

"Tuesday's session is decisive. It is a session of 'be or not to be' in the defense of the constitution," leading opposition MP Mohammad Al-Mutair said. MP Hasan Jowhar hosted the meeting, yesterday. He said the opposition has enough votes to pass a no-confidence motion against the health minister and replace him.

There were reports on social media that opposition MPs plan to occupy the front row of the National Assembly which is reserved for the Prime Minister and other Cabinet members to press for the Prime Minister to face the grilling. Meanwhile, MP Osama Al-Shaheen said that he and nine other MPs submitted a request to convene a special session of the Assembly on June 6 to approve amendments to a law criminalizing normalization with Israel. The amendments will make it difficult for any possible dealings with the Jewish state.