Kuwait ruler accepts cabinets en masse resignations

World

Kuwait ruler accepts cabinets en masse resignations

Close

The ruler of oil-rich Kuwait on Monday accepted the resignation of the government.

28 November,2011 10:55 pm

This is the seventh cabinet to step down in five years, over a bitter dispute with parliament, official media said.Emir Sheikh Sabah al-Ahmad Al-Sabah issued an order accepting the resignation of the prime minister and cabinet ministers, state-run Kuwait television reported.The emir asked Prime Minister Sheikh Nasser Mohammad al-Ahmad Al-Sabah, a senior member of the ruling family, and other ministers to manage urgent issues until a new government is formed, the television said.The resignation came one day ahead of a scheduled questioning in parliament of the prime minister over an alleged corruption scandal involving a number of MPs and on charges of misusing public funds.It also came hours before a planned mass rally later on Monday by the opposition to press demands for the premiers ouster and for the release of 24 opposition activists held for storming parliament on November 6.Parliament speaker Jassem al-Khorafi said he had not been informed of a dissolution of the house but said parliamentary sessions had been called off until a new government is formed.It was not immediately known whether the emir, who has ultimate power in the Gulf state over appointing heads of government, will reappoint Sheikh Nasser to form his eighth cabinet since having taken up the post in February 2006.Opposition MPs, who have been at loggerheads with Sheikh Nasser, a nephew of the emir, over charges he failed to manage the wealthy state, welcomed the resignation.They called for the formation of a transitional government with a new premier before parliament is dissolved.We are waiting for the appointment of a new prime minister before parliament is dissolved in order to be assured of fair elections, Islamist opposition MP Khaled al-Sultan told reporters outside parliament.I hope the emir will please the Kuwaiti people by dissolving parliament... and forming a transitional cabinet to supervise the elections, said another opposition MP, Falah al-Sawwagh.We are waiting for the next step to dissolve parliament, a quarter of whose members have been referred to the prosecution over large allegedly illegal deposits in their accounts, MP Daifalla Buramia said.The public prosecutor in September launched an unprecedented probe into the bank accounts of around 15 pro-government MPs accused of accepting bribes totalling $350 million.Opposition MPs have claimed the deposits were bribes by the government to win votes on crucial issues. Some of the MPs accused have denied any wrongdoing.The most tumultuous period in Kuwaits modern history has now seen seven cabinets resign since mid-2006 and parliament dissolved three times, although in 1962 it became the Gulfs first Arab state to adopt a democratic system.Kuwait, which sits on about 10 percent of global crude oil, has amassed more than $300 billion in surpluses over the past decade, but projects and development have been stalled by the political wrangling.