Kuwait Islamist MP Seeks To Question PM

Parliament is due to discuss a government-proposed 1.5 billion dinars ($5.11 billion) economic rescue package.

A Kuwaiti Islamist deputy said on Sunday he wanted to question the Gulf state's prime minister, a move that had led to the resignation of the previous cabinet.

Parliament is due to discuss a government-proposed 1.5 billion dinars ($5.11 billion) economic rescue package. Tensions between deputies and ministers have often delayed such measures.

Many see questioning ministers as a way of undermining the reputation and power of cabinet members. It also raises fears that Emir Sheikh Sabah al-Ahmad al-Sabah would dissolve parliament.

Faisal al-Meslem said he wanted to question Sheikh Nasser al-Mohammad al-Sabah over what he said were financial irregularities at the prime minister's office.

Other deputies, who belong to the Islamic Constitutional Movement (ICM), said they planned to make a separate request to question Sheikh Nasser, a nephew of the ruler.

Deputies have often used threats to question ministers in the OPEC oil exporting nation as a way of putting pressure on them and at least two cabinet members have resigned to avoid the process.

Last month, ICM deputies said they would seek to question the prime minister over policies and decisions including the cancellation in December of a $17 billion joint venture with Dow Chemical less than a month after its signing.

Members of parliament have questioned several cabinet ministers in past years but questioning the prime minister would be a first.

In November, the cabinet resigned after three deputies moved to question Sheikh Nasser, who was later reappointed to form a new cabinet.

The emir had dissolved parliament in March 2008 to end a similar row.