Third Kuwaiti Minister Faces Grilling

A Kuwaiti lawmaker demanded on Sunday to question State Minister for Planning and Development Rula Dashti over alleged mismanagement, in the third grilling request in less than two weeks.

MP Khalil Abdullah accused the minister of failing to perform her duties, blamed her for delayed development plans and accused her of "undermining Kuwait's national economic security and risking the country's future."

Opposition MP Riyadh Al-Adasani filed a similar request on October 31 to grill Prime Minister Sheikh Jaber Mubarak Al-Sabah, blaming him for the chronic housing crisis, rife corruption and a decline in public services.

And MP Hussein Al-Mutairi has since asked to grill Health Minister Sheikh Mohammad Abdullah Al-Sabah over alleged corruption and mismanagement, amid another looming political crisis in the oil-rich Gulf state.

Parliament speaker Marzouk al-Ghanem said Sunday that all three grillings are listed on the agenda of the parliament session on November 12.

The premier and the two ministers have the right to delay debate on the grillings for two weeks.

The grillings could lead to votes of no-confidence which, if passed, would result in the dismissal of the officials.

Although the emirate has amassed over $400 billion in surpluses in the past 13 fiscal years thanks to high oil price, the pace of development has been slow.

In 2010, parliament approved a $110 billion four-year development plan, but less than a third of the projects listed have been implemented mainly due to political tensions and the repeated dissolution of parliament. The plan period ends next March.

Since early 2006, the OPEC state has seen dozens of prime ministers and other cabinet members questioned, with many forced to resign ahead of no-confidence votes.

The latest victim was former Oil Minister Hani Hussein, who quit in May ahead of a grilling.

The current parliament was elected in July in Kuwait's second polls in eight months after the country's top court dissolved the previous house due to procedural flaws. It was the second parliament to be scrapped for the same reason in a year.

Due to bitter political disputes dating back to 2006, parliament has been dissolved by the emir four times and nullified by court order on two occasions, while a dozen cabinets have been formed.