BANKRUPTCY OF MPs
by Ali Ahmed Al-Baghli
Arab Times, Kuwait
August 25, 2005

IT appears the summer vacation has led to a season of Parliamentary bankruptcy. Statements by most MPs and ministers during this hibernation period reflect their intellectual bankruptcy. MPs are hunting for statements issued by ministers to come up with a "suitable response." The lawmakers are also in a hurry to implement whatever is discussed in diwaniyas, without enough thought. Inflammatory statements issued by some MPs against Commerce Minister Abdullah Al-Taweel have caught our attention. These MPs have threatened to grill Al-Taweel, among others, for the recent increase in the prices of consumer goods and services after the 50-dinar increment given to Kuwaiti employees.


I scrutinized the statements of these MPs from a legal point of view and tried to identify the measures, which the government should have taken to contain this increase in prices. In the end, I found there was nothing the government could have done. Our government is not communist. The state has control over the prices of only certain subsidized goods — which are sold through ration cards at cooperative societies — fuel, water, and electricity. Prices of all other goods and services are determined by the demand and supply in the market. We are a country which imports everything it needs, from needles to airplanes. The record high oil prices have affected the cost of all goods we import from foreign countries.


The poor Commerce Minister has no control over the prices of imported goods or the international economy. Although Prime Minister Sheikh Sabah Al-Ahmad Al-Sabah countered fiery statements from MPs saying "prices of over 25,000 products haven't changed," our intellectually bankrupt lawmakers have kept on with their threatening statements. I was very amused by a statement by the fundamentalist MP from Kaifan Dr Waleed Al-Tabtabaei, who urged the government not to approve the marriages of Kuwaiti men with non-Kuwaiti women. Al-Tabtabaei claims his suggestion will help to reduce the number of unmarried Kuwaiti women. I couldn't find anything in the teachings of Islam to support this racist demand of the Islamic MP.


All of us are Muslims, as Islam belongs to people of all countries and has no border restrictions. Islam allows Muslim men to marry women of other faiths without forcing them to convert to our religion. I wonder on what basis this MP has proposed to forbid us from signing a sacred marriage contract. This is a weird and unacceptable interference in the personal affairs of other people. Is Al-Tabtabaei not content with the conditions for music concerts? Do not his statements on Ramadan tents and smoking "sheesha" satisfy him? Is not he satisfied with defending terrorists in Fallujah and plagiarizing the ideas of others? Surely, this is a bankruptcy of MPs.

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