Kuwait: PM submits government's resignation to ruling emir of Gulf Arab

The Prime Minister of Kuwait, Jaber Al-Mubarak Al-Hamad Al-Sabah submitted his cabinet's resignation to the ruling emir of the Gulf Arab state on November 14. This comes after Kuwait's minister of public works Jenan Ramadan's announcement of stepping down after being grilled by the lawmakers in parliament. Reportedly, ten parliament members passed a no-confidence motion against Ramadan after accusing her of failing to fix the infrastructure and roads damaged in the floods of 2018. According to the Kuwait government's spokesperson, the resignation was submitted for the rearrangement of the cabinet work. However, the emir has to accept the resignation; only then a new cabinet will be formed. 

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Minister of state for housing, resigns

Jenan Ramadan announced her resignation saying that companies, as well as influential people, are 'stronger than the right'. The Minister of Public Works was being questioned by the lawmakers after her ministry was unsuccessful in addressing the obstacles and the issues of basic infrastructure despite their plan of 2019-20 which aimed at transforming Kuwait into an international financial center. Moreover, the ministry reportedly did not unveil the dates of commencement of major projects in order to provide an estimate of when they will complete. Kuwait has witnessed several weeks of tensions between the parliament and the government. 

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No-confidence motion against ministers

This is also not the first time since lawmakers in the parliament passed a no-confidence motion against the cabinet ministers led by the Prime Minister. The senior officials also passed a no-confidence motion against the Interior Minister Sheikh Khalid al-Jarrah al-Sabah who is also the senior member of the ruling family. Sheikh Khalid was also accused of abuse of power, which he reportedly denied. Kuwait, having the most open political system among the six-nation Gulf Cooperation Council, also has the power to pass legislation as well as question the ministers. Since the senior posts are filled by the ruling family members, they still have to accept the resignation in order to request another cabinet. However, Marzouq al-Ghanem, the speaker of the parliament told a state news agency that the emir does not intend to dissolve the parliament and the parliamentary elections are due in early 2020. 

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(With inputs from the agencies)