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Kuwait Times, Saturday, Apr 10, 2021 | Shaaban 27, 1442

Twenty-three MPs demand removal of assembly speaker

Kuwait: As many as 23 opposition lawmakers yesterday submitted an unprecedented motion demanding the dismissal of assembly speaker Marzouq Al-Ghanem for breaching the constitution and the internal charter. MP Bader Al-Mulla led the motion and 22 other MPs signed it and a number of other MPs are expected to put their names on it later. The motion said that the assembly speaker “committed flagrant violations while presiding over the session on March 30, 2021,” adding that the violations committed were unprecedented and very grave.

It said the speaker effectively suspended article 101 of the constitution, which regulates grilling of the prime minister and ministers, by postponing the grilling against the prime minister for one and a half years without any constitutional or legal basis.

The motion demanded that the national assembly debates the issue of dismissing the speaker from his post. This is the first such motion in the history of Kuwait’s parliamentary democracy which began in 1962.

There are no provisions in the constitution and the country’s laws that clearly explain procedures to remove the assembly speaker but the motion based its demand on article 97 of the constitution.

The motion is certain to deteriorate already troubled political situation in the country that saw last week 32 lawmakers out of the 50-member house boycott a regular session to prevent the new cabinet from taking the oath. But the oath was taken with the attendance of just 18 lawmakers and the 16 cabinet ministers.

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