By Yasmeena Al-Mulla

KUWAIT: Kuwait's newly elected National Assembly has concluded the formation of parliamentary committees - always a first step in a new legislative term. Now all eyes are on these newly-elected committees as they are regarded as the 'kitchen of the parliament' amid questions about what legislation they will examine and debate. In this explainer, we examine how the committees operate, their main role and what legislation is likely to dominate at the start of the new legislative term.

How do events inside the committees affect the public?
The committees are seen as one of the main competencies of the legislative branch as they are the chambers where the MPs discuss each draft law before it is presented to the floor of the parliament for a vote. Therefore, the MPs of each committee have a huge role to play, as they are the ones examining each law under a microscope and determine whether the draft law can move forward or not.

How are the committees formed?
For the 16th legislative term, there are a total of 22 committees, divided into two different categories: Permanent committees and temporary committees. The permanent committees do not change, whilst temporary committees are suggested at the beginning of every session (the legislative term has a total of four sessions).

Each MP willing to join a committee must nominate themselves - if the number of candidates equals the specific number needed, then the committee is formed unanimously. If there are more candidates than available committee seats, then the 65 parliamentary members vote on the matter by secret ballot.

MPs are allowed to join up to two permanent committees, but can join as many temporary committees as they wish. While an MP can join more than one committee, they are not allowed to be a chairperson or a committee rapporteur (known in Arabic as muqarer) in more than one committee. The head of the committee is charged with chairing and managing the meeting, signing the reports and invites members to the meeting. As for the committee rapporteur, they represent the committee chairperson in their absence, convey the committee's report to the parliament and follow up on reports.

Although each committee deals with the draft laws that affect their responsibilities, each draft law must first go through the legal and legislative committee, as it is tasked with reviewing if the proposal adheres to the Kuwaiti constitution.

Different forms of committees
Since the legislative branch was inaugurated, several committees were formed. Many are long-standing, while others are created for special purposes and for a limited amount of time. Abdulaziz Al-Hudaib, an economic researcher at the National Assembly, explained that when the parliament's procedural law (known in Arabic as laehat al-dakhleya) was first issued in 1963, there were nine committees, each one reflecting more or less a certain ministry.

Then in 1993, a law was enacted to create a permanent committee known as the protection of public funds committee after two major corruption scandals plagued Kuwait that involved the state-owned company in charge of oil tankers and Kuwait's foreign investments, where allegedly KD 1.5 billion in public funds were mismanaged.

The most recent permanent committee was formed in 2013 - the priorities committee (known in Arabic as lajnat al-awlaweyat), which is responsible for deciding which drafts laws make it to the floor for a vote, based on their importance. "This is one of the ways where public opinion affects the committee. The priorities committee often puts forth the laws that are demanded as crucial by the Kuwaiti people," Hudaib told Kuwait Times.

The Amiri speech committee, which basically replies to HH the Amir's opening speech after every opening session, is a temporary committee, but it is treated as a permanent committee and is the first committee formed at the beginning of every session. Many temporary committees like the women and family committee, human rights committee, housing committee and the bedoon committee are usually always reinstated every term since the 1990s, as they focus on key issues that have yet to be resolved.

The negative phenomena committee (known as lajnat al-thawher al-salbeya in Kuwait) has been formed almost every term since 2006 to address issues that affect Kuwait's social cohesion. In the past, the committee has proposed banning Christmas trees, combating the appearance of Satan worshipers and punishing public acts of indecency like wearing a bathing suit in public.

Although the current legislative term has so far only formed temporary and permanent committees, if needed, at any time in the upcoming session they can form an investigative committee. This type of committee is created based on specific occasions, usually when a certain crisis or issue arises. In the previous legislative term, an investigative committee was formed to look into the Malaysian funds scandal, known as the 1MBD case.

Response to committee formation
In terms of the current committees, while they have yet to meet, many were quick to criticize their formation on several grounds. The makeup of the committees are a combination of Islamists, independents and 'opposition' members, a broad term used within Kuwaiti politics to refer to MPs that are usually opposed to the government's agenda.

One of the committees that came under harsh scrutiny was the women and family committee, with many pointing to the fact that one of its members, Osama Al-Munawer, has in the past publicly called for imposing harsh measures like enforcing the hijab on all women. Munawer has also previously expressed that he is against appointing women as judges.

In addition, many committees will likely face a deadlock as there are competing agendas by many of MPs. Based on past performance, the interior and defense committee, seen as one of the more important committees, was the slowest committee in terms of discussing proposed laws during the past term.

"There were political reasons why this committee took its time and it was mainly because the members did not want to change the electoral law, so they purposefully delayed it," Hudaib explained. The MP who has joined the most number of committees is Saleh Al-Mutairi, as he is a member of one permanent committee and nine temporary committees.

Critical issues
While any MP and the government are free to present proposals, the draft laws that are usually presented are based on public demands or matters of national importance. Currently, several proposals have been put forth to amend laws such as the electoral law, the amnesty law and the press and publications law.

"These laws are a reflection of what's being demanded on the Kuwaiti streets and therefore will likely be some of the first issues discussed during the term," Hudaib said. In terms of the previous legislative term, one of the main committees that were active reflected important issues being addressed in the country. One of these was the demographic imbalance (where non-Kuwaitis make up 70 percent of the population), which led the human resources committee (a temporary committee) to meet 21 times in the last two sessions, according to the website Raqib 50.

Civil society and non-governmental agencies (NGOs) have a role to play, as they are invited to join committee meetings to share their opinion or expertise on a matter as they are "the pulse of the streets", Hudaib mentioned. Several laws that were passed in the previous legislative term were done with the help of NGOs and civil societies, from the domestic violence law to the press and publication law, which resulted in the end of book censorship. Although many critical issues were brought up, many others went unresolved due to political clashes between the parliament and the government.