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Lawmakers witness gov't oath-taking, elect cmte members

National Assembly start the second session of the 16th legislative term
National Assembly start the second session of the 16th legislative term
KUWAIT, Jan 4 (KUNA) -- The newly-minted Kuwaiti government took the constitutional oath before the National Assembly on Tuesday at the start of the second session of the 16th legislative term.
The 15 cabinet members, led by the Prime Minister His Highness Sheikh Sabah Khaled Al-Hamad Al-Sabah, ascended the podium one after another to swore-in before the parliament.
A number of legislators, however, walked away from the session in protest against the new government's constitutional oath-taking procedures.
Last Tuesday, His Highness the Amir Sheikh Nawaf Al-Ahmad Al-Jaber Al-Sabah issued a decree appointing the new cabinet headed by His Highness Sheikh Sabah Khaled Al-Hamad Al-Sabah.
Then, the lawmakers resumed the session's agenda starting with election of new members to fill vacancies at the parliamentary committees.
They elected MP Khalil Al-Saleh as a member in the Committee for Internal Affairs and Defense and MP Nasser Al-Dosari as a member in the Legislative and Legal Affairs Committee.
They named MP Osama Al-Shaheen as a member in the Public Utilities Committee and MP Mubarak Al-Hajraf in the Environmental Committee. The lawmakers elected MP Homoud Al-Azmi a member in the Parliamentary Budgets and Final Accounts Committee.
After that, the National Assembly examined letters by His Highness the Amir Sheikh Nawaf Al-Ahmad Al-Jaber Al-Sabah in which he expressed his appreciation and gratitude for the MPs for congratulating him for his first anniversary of assuming power and his safe return to the country after a private vacation.
The lawmakers approved a proposal to allocate tomorrow (Wednesday)'s session to discuss His Highness the Amir Sheikh Nawaf Al-Ahmad Al-Jaber Al-Sabah's speech at the opening of the new parliamentary session.
They also agreed on allocating January 18 and 19 session to deliberate the government plan of actions for the years 2020-2021 and 2023-2024.
Moreover, the legislators reviewed and agreed on several letters addressed to the National Assembly related to a number of local issues and including draft laws to tackle them.
They approved a request by MP Saleh Al-Mutairi to assign a committee to study recent murders and find solutions "to this phenomenon" from legal, religious, social and psychological perspectives.
Furthermore, they gave thumbs up to a proposal from MP Abdulaziz Al-Saqabi to build labor towns and ensure workers' rights in line with relevant international conventions.
The lawmakers concurred on a request submitted MP Adnan Abdulsamad calling for issuing a new law to establish a public company to observe increase of meat prices and combat commodities' monopoly.
They delegated Speaker Marzouq Al-Ghanim to talk with MP Yousif Al-Fadhala to persuade him to withdraw his resignation from the parliament.
Before the end of the session, Speaker Al-Ghanim said he has received a grilling motion request from MP Hamdan Al-Azmi against Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Defense Sheikh Hamad Jaber Al-Ali Al-Sabah.
In his motion, the MP criticized the minister for "allowing the recruitment of women in the army", "ignoring the State Audit Bureau's remarks on a Eurofighter deal", "failing to cooperate with regulatory agencies or replying parliamentary queries", "failing to safeguard state-owned lands", and "non-compliance with cabinet decrees on recruitments".
For his part, Minister of Defense Sheikh Hamad Jaber Al-Ali affirmed that he is ready to ascend the podium and refute all the lawmaker's claims.
Speaker Al-Ghanim announced that the grilling motion will discussed in the coming ordinary session. (end) ns.msa.ibi