Politicians in Kuwait called on Monday for urgent action following the fall of the government after just eight months in office, the latest damaging crisis to rock the oil-rich Gulf state.
Prime Minister Sheikh Nasser Mohammad al-Ahmad al-Sabah and his cabinet resigned on Sunday on the eve of a parliamentary no-confidence vote in a senior minister and member of the powerful ruling family. "I believe it will be one crisis after another unless we tackle the root cause of the problem," the leader of the outlawed Ummah Party, Hakem al-Mutairi, told AFP.
The wrangling is also stalling development projects and economic reform in the Opec member state, whose coffers have been swelled by high oil prices. Kuwait's current political woes date back to January 2006 when a power struggle broke out within the ruling Al-Sabah family that culminated in the removal of former ailing emir Sheikh Saad Abdullah al-Sabah.
Just four months later, parliament was dissolved following a bitter stand-off between the government and lawmakers. An election was then held in which the opposition, made up of Islamists, liberals and nationalists, won a dramatic victory, gaining a majority of 33 seats in the 50-member house
Despite having a new powerful ruler in Emir Sheikh Sabah al-Ahmad al-Sabah and a robust new parliament, the government collapsed after barely eight months in office.
It resigned after it became clear that opposition MPs had enough support to vote Health Minister Sheikh Ahmad Abdullah al-Sabah out of office. The prime minister, a nephew of the emir, had the option of carrying out a reshuffle, but decided to step down because several other ministers were at risk of being questioned in parliament.
Although a parliamentary system was introduced to the emirate in 1962, political parties remain banned. "We must change our traditional political practices which have been a failure. We must adopt political pluralism and the peaceful rotation of power," said Mutairi. "Our system is not a true democracy." He called for the government to be formed by elected MPs - as in Western-style democracies - so it can be answerable for its actions.
Under the current system, the prime minister and all key ministerial posts are held by members of the ruling family, which is harder to hold accountable. Under the Kuwaiti system and constitution, the ruler enjoys extensive powers including naming the crown prince and prime minister and dissolving parliament. Opposition MP Mussallam al-Barrak said he believed there was no need for major changes to the system, although he acknowledged there were problems.
"The shortfall is not in the constitution. It is in the implementation. There are parties inside and outside the government who have no faith in democracy or the constitution (who are causing trouble)," Barrak told AFP.
Mohammad al-Jassem, former editor of the independent Al-Watan newspaper, said continued infighting within the ruling family was at the root of the political crises. "If the cabinet was exercising its role properly, there wouldn't have been any problem. Several ministers have abandoned their responsibilities, thus allowing outsiders to interfere," MP Barrak added.
Kuwait, which sits on 10 percent of global crude reserves and has a native population of just one million, has amassed some 200 billion dollars in financial assets during the past eight years - or about 200,000 dollars for each citizen. But last year, the authorities were forced to impose cuts in water and power supplies because of a lack of new facilities, while public hospitals are overcrowded and several other public services are considered below standard. "There is a good opportunity to form the cabinet on a new basis. We need statesmen who can perform. Our top priorities are development and reforms," Barrak said.
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