ISLAMIST MPS' GRILLING REQUESTS REKINDLE

C O N F I D E N T I A L KUWAIT 000522

SIPDIS

SIPDIS
NOFORN

FOR NEA/ARP

E.O. 12958: DECL: 04/08/2017
TAGS: PGOV KISL KDEM KU ISLAMISTS
SUBJECT: ISLAMIST MPS' GRILLING REQUESTS REKINDLE
UNCONSTITUTIONAL DISSOLUTION RUMORS

REF: A. 06 KUWAIT 4682

B. 06 KUWAIT 4430

Classified By: CDA Matthew H. Tueller for reasons 1.4(b) and (d).


1. (C/NF) Summary and comment: While many opposition MPs
appeared willing to give the new government a chance to show
it can perform, two tribal Islamist MPs have kept the
political heat on, calling for parliamentary grillings of the
Finance and Islamic Affairs Ministers. Most politicians and
editorialists oppose the grillings as unnecessarily
antagonistic and other Islamist MPs have stepped in to
mediate what would be yet another confrontation between the
Government and parliament. Rumblings of an Amiri order
dissolving Parliament have resurfaced quickly. The
Government designed the current cabinet to stand up to
destabilizing efforts but those left out of the backroom
political deals may use the power afforded them in Kuwait's
democracy to force a showdown. End Summary and Comment.


2. (C/NF) Despite widespread calls for an end to the cycle
of unproductive parliamentary attacks on cabinet ministers,
the issue of "grilling" ministers has quickly resurfaced for
the new Government. Tribal Islamist MP Daifallah Bou Ramya
has stepped up his threats to grill Finance Minister Badr
Al-Humaidhi and MP Abdullah Akkash has continued a lower-key
push to grill Islamic Affairs Minister Abdullah Al-Maatouq
(Comment: Both MPs had threatened to grill these ministers
prior to their reappointment. End comment.) Speculation
about an unconstitutional dissolution of Parliament, which
filled diwaniyyas and editorial pages late last year (ref B),
has begun to reappear. Some have responded to this
speculation, and its implicit threat from the Government, in
unusually harsh terms. Veteran MP Ahmed Al-Saadoun was
quoted in newspapers as saying "playing with the constitution
will be the end of their (the ruling family's) regime."


3. (C/NF) Bou Ramya has accused the Finance Minister of
improprieties in the Public Investment Authority and of
insufficient oversight over lending institutions. However,
many believe Bou Ramya is motivated in large part by
Humaidhi's role in scuttling legislation to write off
Kuwaitis' personal loans in December (ref A),an issue of
great interest to Bou Ramya's tribal constituents.


4. (C/NF) Editorialists and most politicians have
criticized Bou Ramya's grilling threats as a continuation of
last year's cycle of unproductive personal political attacks
between parliament and the Government. Parliament's Popular
Action Bloc is withholding judgment, but the liberal National
Action Bloc has already come out unequivocally against the
grilling. The Islamic Bloc is divided. The Islamic
Constitutional Movement (the political wing of Kuwait's
Muslim Brotherhood) has publicly opposed the grilling, with
ICM MP Khudheir Al-Enezi telling the press that the grilling
was hasty and that "Kuwaitis are sick of escalations." Wael
Al-Hasawi, the former editor of the Salafi weekly newspaper,
wrote in Al-Watan on April 10 that "everyone knows Bou
Ramya's threats come from sour grapes (over the loans
issue)," and that the people have had enough of "pettiness"
between the parliament and Government. Al-Hasawi added that
Bou Ramya's actions would tarnish the Islamic bloc as a
whole.


5. (C/NF) MP Abdullah Akkash's campaign to grill Islamic
Affairs Minister Abdullah Al-Maatouq is based ostensibly on
allegations of financial improprieties in the ministry.
While there may be some basis to the allegations, the real
reason probably lies in the fact that many conservative
Islamists are uncomfortable with Al-Maatouq's unorthodoxies
(he is rumored to have Sufi proclivities) and may be upset
that he has focused on issues which some Islamists oppose,
such as the Moderation Center, and has neglected other
projects that they support. Al-Ma'atouq's involvement in
banning books by Salafi ideologues such as Bin Baz in an
Islamic book festival in 2006 is an example of where he gets
on the wrong side of hard line Islamists. Islamists waged a
public campaign to discredit Al-Maatouq during the period
around the cabinet dissolution and some likely see his
reappointment as a Governmental rebuke.

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For more reporting from Embassy Kuwait, visit:
http://www.state.sgov.gov/p/nea/kuwait/?cable s

Visit Kuwait's Classified Website:
http://www.state.sgov.gov/p/nea/kuwait/
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Tueller