Kuwait: the resignation of two ministers, a symbol of the political crisis
Kuwait's Interior Minister Ahmed Mansour Al-Ahmed Al-Sabah (left) resigned this week amid political crisis.
© YASSER AL-ZAYYAT/AFP
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Two leading ministers resign in Kuwait, a new illustration of the political turmoil in this Gulf monarchy with parliamentary life much more agitated than among its neighbors.
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Kuwaiti Defense Ministers Sheikh Hamad Jaber al-Ali al-Sabah and Interior Ministers Sheikh Ahmed Mansour al-Ahmed al-Sabah tendered their resignations this week.
These resignations were accepted this Thursday, February 17 by the emir of this rich oil monarchy of the Arabian Peninsula, Sheikh Nawaf al-Ahmad al-Sabah.
The two ex-ministers are members of the ruling family in Kuwait, that of al-Sabah.
Foreign Minister Ahmed Nasser al-Mohammed al-Sabah takes the interim Defense portfolio and Oil Minister Mohammed al-Fares takes over the Interior.
“We
have worked seriously, but in this atmosphere, it is impossible to advance reforms
”, explain in substance the two resigning ministers in a joint press release.
In question: the agitated sessions of the Kuwaiti Parliament where the deputies do not hesitate to openly criticize the ministers, including when they belong to the dynasty in power.
A strong opposition in Parliament
In 2020, the opposition won
almost half of the 50 seats
in Parliament and since then the country is in its fourth government.
Faced with economic difficulties linked to fluctuations in oil prices and the consequences of Covid-19, Kuwait is struggling to
carry out reforms
due to these permanent tensions between the executive and the Parliament.
Kuwait remains a monarchy in which most of the levers of power are in the hands of the emir and his family.
But its turbulent political life makes it an exception among the countries of the Gulf Cooperation Council (Saudi Arabia, United Arab Emirates, Qatar, Kuwait, Bahrain, Oman).
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