EDUCATION MINISTER SURVIVES VOTE OF NO

C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 03 KUWAIT 000090

SIPDIS

SIPDIS

DEPT FOR NEA/ARP; BEA CAMERON

E.O. 12958: DECL: 2017
TAGS: PREL PGOV KISL SCUL SOCI KU
SUBJECT: EDUCATION MINISTER SURVIVES VOTE OF NO
CONFIDENCE/PAYOFF IS GENDER SEGREGATION

REF: A. KUWAIT 0043

B. 2007 KUWAIT 1760

Classified By: CDA Misenheimer for reasons 1.4 b and d

Summary and Comment
--------------


1. (C) On January 22, Kuwaiti Education Minister Al-Sabeeh
survived a vote of no-confidence. On January 8, an Islamist
MP ineffectively grilled her on a variety of charges deemed
weak by the GOK and Kuwaiti press, and a motion was filed for
the vote. With this victory, she became the first minister
to survive a grilling and subsequent no-confidence vote since
the current Amir came to power in January 2005. Her deft
handling of the grilling was rewarded by support from the
GOK, but this support came with a price: GOK aggrement to
enforce a gender segregation law in private universities. In
backroom maneuverings, the GOK allied with Islamists, notably
the Kuwaiti Muslim Brotherhood, to assure Sabeeh of victory.
The victory was viewed as a success for Sabeeh, the GOK, and
Kuwaiti women at least in the short term, and the compromise
with the Islamists as inevitable and necessary, as many
viewed a negative outcome of this grilling and subsequent
vote a probable catalyst for an Amiri decision for
parliamentary dissolution.


2. (C) The GOK must now hope that in making this Faustian
bargain to save the minister, it has not created a larger,
long-term problem in Kuwait -- deeper gender segregation and
a setback for women's rights -- with very negative
consequences for American families and for Embassy Kuwait.
We believe that the Amir and the majority of Kuwaitis do not
support extending the gender segregation to primary and
secondary schools and will be calling on the Education
Minister in the coming days to further clarify our next
steps. End Summary and Comment.

Victory for Sabeeh...but at What Cost?
--------------


3. (U) Per ref A., on January 22, Kuwaiti Education Minister
Nouriya Al-Sabeeh, the only remaining female minister, was
subjected to, and and survived a parliamentary vote of
"no-confidence." Opponents of Sabeeh failed to muster the
requisite 25 votes to call for her resignation. The tally of
the votes in parliament were 27 in support of Sabeeh, and 19
against, with two abstentions. The session was attended by
the second highest number of women spectators since the
session in which women were given the right to vote in 2005.
Sabeeh's victory was rewarded by a standing ovation from the
gallery.

Background
--------------


4. (C) On January 8 and 9, Islamist MP Saad Al-Shraye
"grilled" Sabeeh before the National Assembly on accusations
of misleading MPs, committing administrative and legal
wrongdoing, violating national mores and contributing to the
deterioration of Kuwait's education system. His charges were
deemed weak by the government, other MPs and the Kuwaiti
press. After the grilling, Sabeeh was credited in the press
and by her supporters with bearing herself with dignity and
eloquently refuting charges targeted at her. The case that
Al-Shraye made led to a request by a mix of ten Islamist and
pro-government MPs to file a motion of no-confidence, which
in the end was not convincing enough to sway the requisite 25
votes needed for her removal. In the January 22 session, MPs
opposed to Sabeeh again made weak arguments in support of her
no-confidence vote, casting blame on the minister for the
mishandling of a sexual assault case that happened at a
primary school, charging her with lax standards for not
punishing a 14-year-old school girl who allegedly desecrated
the Quran, and for over-reacting by reportedly turning
another girl over to security authorities for commenting
negatively about the United States.



5. (C) In the two weeks between the grilling and
no-confidence vote, it became clear that parliamentary
alliances were being made and broken. Leading the charge for
calling the vote were MPs previously loyal to the government
but who deemed that this loyalty had not reaped adequate
rewards. The likely opponents of Sabeeh (who does not wear a
headscarf),conservatives in the Islamic Constitutional
Movement (ICM or Kuwaiti Muslim Brotherhood) and the Salafi
Islamic Group, ended up siding with her and playing a key
role in tipping the scales in her favor during the vote. In

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the final tally, MPs who supported Sabeeh included nine
Islamists, eight liberals, three from the Popular Action
Bloc, six independents and the speaker of Parliament. Those
who voted against her included a Salafist, four of the
Popular Action Bloc and the six New Islamic Group MPs, as
well as many of the tribal MPs. Two of the three Salafists
abstained.

Litmus Test for Dissolution
--------------


6. (C) The grilling, and possible removal from office, of
Sabeeh was a potential catalyst to prompt the Amir to
dissolve parliament. If Sabeeh's performance during the
grilling had been less effective, it is likely that the Amir
would have called for dissolution rather than allow her to be
ousted from the cabinet. In the end, the GOK, which
previously appeared weak and directionless, by demonstrating
its support for Sabeeh and winning this grilling and voting,
showed signs of strength not seen in recent months.

The Payoff
--------------


7. (C) According to royal family member Sh. Mohammed
Abdullah Mubarak Al Sabah, the self-described chief
government whip or lobbyist, GOK maneuvering secured Sabeeh's
victory. According to Mohammed, just prior to the
no-confidence vote, he set up a meeting between Minister
Sabeeh and members of the ICM to broker a deal for their
support. After her victory, Sabeeh announced stricter
enforcement of a 2000 gender segregation law at private
universities. She stated that she would be reviewing and
drafting by-laws for implementation of the law and continuing
discussions on drafting a segregation law for primary and
secondary private schools.


The Segregation Angle:
--------------


8. (C) The private university segregation law was passed in
2000, but, according to Mohammed, has been paid only lip
service by subsequent Ministers of Education. This lack of
implementation has been a source of contention between
Islamists and senior Education Ministry officials, who have
tended to be liberals. Mohammed said that the implementation
of the segregation law was inevitable and private
universities in Kuwait that have been built since 2000 have
been in compliance "to a certain degree." The Government is
not in favor of the law but does not have the political clout
to overturn it and has been content to allow it to be ignored
to a large extent since its passing. In this case, the GOK's
hand was forced, but the government, as it weathered this
latest attack, is now at its strongest point in recent
months.


9. (C) Details are still sketchy on what time line, if any,
the GOK has agreed to for enforcing gender segregation in
private universities, which is in fact already widely, but
not uniformly practiced. More dire for American families and
the embassy is the possibility of gender segregation in
private primary and secondary schools, such as the America
School of Kuwait and The English School, which the majority
of embassy families attend. Mohammed told Poloff that the
Amir is opposed to extending this law to such schools.


10. (C) For the time being, the Islamists have likely been
placated by this compromise, and the GOK's strong showing in
the grilling and subsequent voting has placed it on solid
footing. Post assesses that the matter will lie quiet until
Islamists feel they have the upper hand, and then will push
to extend gender segregation to all schools. According to
Mohammed, even if the Islamist agenda is successful, gender
segregation at all levels is not likely to happen for several
years.

Media Coverage
--------------


11. (U) The news of the Education Minister's victory
received wide and extensive coverage in the print press and
media. All eleven daily Arabic newspaper and the three
English ones reported the news on the front page. The story
was the focus of all Local News Sections in every newspaper.
Al Watan, Al Rai, and Al Qabas each covered the story with
three full pages on the parliamentary vote, and provided
commentary from MPs and the public. In general, the media
considered the decision by the parliament a victory for

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democracy in Kuwait. Editorials in general were favorable of
the decision, and varied on whom to blame for putting the
minister on the stand. Islamists were quick to respond
(unconvincingly) that they were not targeting the Minister
due to her gender, but rather because they were trying to
implement reforms for the public interest.




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MISENHEIMER