US embassy cable - 03KUWAIT896

UNCLAS KUWAIT 000896 
 
SIPDIS 
 
DEPARTMENT FOR NEA/ARP, INR/NESA 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: PGOV, PREL, PINR, KU 
SUBJECT: THIS WEEK AT THE NATIONAL ASSEMBLY 
 
REF: A. KUWAIT 0099 
     B. KUWAIT 0466 
     C. KUWAIT 0800 
 
1.  The Kheiran Pearls scandal (reftel A) continued to occupy 
center stage at the National Assembly this week.  MP Mussalam 
Al-Barak accused former Finance Minister Yousef Al-Ibrahim of 
squandering public funds in relation to the project.  In his 
first official statement since his resignation in January, 
Al-Ibrahim defended himself against Al-Barak's accusations 
and recommended he take the matter to the Minister's Court 
for final resolution.  Al-Barak called Al-Ibrahim's 
resignation an "escape from political accountability"  and 
indicated the National Assembly will vote on March 17 to 
refer Al-Ibrahim to the Minister's Court. 
 
2.  Press reports claimed that some of the ten MPs who last 
week called for a vote of no-confidence in Deputy Prime 
Minister and Minister of State for Cabinet and National 
Assembly Affairs Mohammed Sharar (reftel C) are considering 
withdrawing their support for the measure.  Fearing they will 
not get the 24 votes necessary for the vote of no-confidence, 
these MPs are reluctant to lose face publicly over this issue 
during an election year.  Because a minimum of 10 signatures 
is necessary for the motion to go forward, if any of the 
signatories withdraw their support, there will be no vote of 
no-confidence.  One of the signatories of the measure, MP 
Abdul Mohsen Al-Midij, expressed his willingness to withdraw 
support if the government revokes the Kheiran Pearls 
contract.  If the government does not voluntarily revoke the 
contract, the National Assembly is prepared to vote on a 
recommendation to revoke the contract and to refer the file 
to the Office of the Public Prosecutor. 
 
3.  MPs Mikhlid Al-Azmi and Abdulla Al-Arada submitted a 
draft law to change the designation for passing dud checks 
from a felony to a misdemeanor.  Designated as a legislative 
priority in November 2002, the issue of dud checks has 
already been addressed by the National Assembly, which passed 
a law removing the criminal penalty for passing bad checks on 
January 28.  The Amir vetoed that bill out of fear that the 
reduction of the penalty would encourage people to pass bad 
checks and undermine commercial ventures in Kuwait. 
 
4.  Five Islamist MPs are proposing a new amendment to the 
National Manpower Law of 2000 which would set a limit of 
seven on the number of children for whom a citizen may 
collect the children's allowance.  The original Manpower Law 
set the number of children at five but the National Assembly 
passed an amendment to the Manpower Law in January (reftel B) 
that granted the allowance for an unlimited number of 
children; this amendment was vetoed by the Amir.  The 
compromise has not yet been put before the National Assembly 
for a vote. 
 
5.  The government referred a draft law to the National 
Assembly to allocate additional funds to various departments 
for the current year.  The law includes an urgent request to 
take KD 500 million from the general reserve of the state to 
meet previously unforeseen expenses related to the current 
crisis.  The Speaker of the National Assembly told the 
Ambassador on March 11 that he did not anticipate any 
problems gaining approval for this request. 
JONES