KUWAIT CITY, Jan 17: The Kuwaiti National Assembly is set to convene a session on Tuesday, mainly to consider an interpellation request lodged by MP Hamdan Al-Azmi against Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Defense Sheikh Hamad Jaber Al-Ali Al-Sabah. The session, which lasts Tuesday and Wednesday, will discuss many committee reports and the recent speech delivered by His Highness the Amir. The grilling against the defense minister is at the top of the agenda of the parliamentary debate. The query is primarily based on five aspects encompassing “involving women in army”, “winking at State Audit Bureau’s remarks on a Eurofighter deal”, “failing to cooperate with regulatory agencies or replying parliamentary queries”, “failing to safeguard state-owned lands”, and “non-compliance with cabinet decrees on recruitments”.

MP Al-Azmi submitted his interpellation request against the deputy prime minister and defense minister during a National Assembly (parliament) session held on January 4th. However, the defense minister, at the end of the parliament debate, defied that he was absolutely ready to refute all the aspects of the grilling motion. Meanwhile, MP Al-Azmi disclosed that he received the request of Sheikh Hamad Jaber Al-Ali for clarifications about the items in the grilling motion against him. Al-Azmi said he was surprised that the request was submitted 24 hours before the date of discussing the grilling motion. He added that the minister received a copy of the grilling motion 12 days ago and the latter confirmed his readiness to stand on the podium to immediately clarify issues stated in the motion.

He pointed out the items of the motion are very clear, so the fact that the minister is not aware of them will be added to the grilling motion. In another development, MP Marzouq Al-Khalifa asked Minister of Public Works and Minister of State for Youth Affairs Ali Al-Musa to provide him with a copy of the minutes of the meetings of the committee in charge of agricultural plots since January 2016 till date. He asked if the reasons behind allowing irrelevant companies to obtain agricultural plots have been investigated for violating the regulations stated in the executive decree of ministerial decision number 1341/2017.

Furthermore, MP Thamer Al-Suwait criticized the practice at Kuwait University in which most of the senior positions are occupied by acting officials starting from the president to the deans and heads of departments. Al-Suwait said this current situation negatively affected the quality of education in Kuwait University. He called on Minister of Education, Higher Education and Research Ali Al-Mudaf to expedite the appointment of the president of the university and form the committees that will interview those nominated for senior positions. By Saeed Mahmoud Saleh Arab Times Staff and Agencies