Vital proposals, bills discussion delayed

KUWAIT CITY, Sept 23: National Assembly Speaker Marzouq Al-Ghanim adjourned the session scheduled for Wednesday due to lack of quorum. Only 17 MPs and two ministers were present, while the minimum number of attendees required for a session to push through is 22.

The Assembly was supposed to discuss and vote on a number of important proposals; including the bills on fixing the demographic imbalance, bankruptcy, Audio-Visual Law and Kuwait Airways Corporation. Several MPs expressed disappointment over the cancellation of the session, because of the importance of the above-mentioned bills and the fact that only a few days are left in the current parliamentary term.

MP Ahmed Al-Fadl said he is fed up as the time and efforts exerted by different parliamentary committees to prepare reports on bills that the citizens need urgently are wasted. He is afraid of the possibility that some of his colleagues deliberately disrupted the session, because they were sitting in the next room when the speaker called them to reach a quorum. He also criticized the ministers, considering only two of them were present.

Unless a special session is held soon, the efforts exerted by the parliamentary committees will be in vain. It will be a big loss if the chance to approve vital proposals is missed; such as the handicapped, sports, audio-visual, competitiveness protection and import bills, taking into consideration that the executive and legislative authorities are on the verge of reaching an agreement regarding these bills, Al-Fadl concluded.

By Saeed Mahmoud Saleh Arab Times Staff