The Kuwaiti cabinet broke its own record by resigning last week for the second time in nine months, reports Sherine Bahaa The resignation of the Kuwaiti cabinet for the second time this year came as a severe blow to Kuwait's high-profile democracy. "The recent showdown between the two authorities [executive and legislative] has unraveled what a negative model of democracy Kuwait is." It is the same old story again and again. The Kuwaiti cabinet resigned to avert the grilling of one of its ministers -- this time the prime minister at the hand of three Islamist MPs. The three deputies were objecting to Sheikh Nasser's decision to allow a visit by an Iranian Shia Muslim cleric, who they said had insulted the Prophet Mohamed's companions. The three had also wanted to question the prime minister over alleged corruption and mismanagement of funds in the world's seventh-largest oil exporter. A parliamentary grilling that was likely to be televised would be regarded as a humiliation. But this time the Kuwaiti emir, who has the last say in politics, took almost a week before announcing his acceptance to the resignation of the cabinet. "The emir can accept or decline their resignation," said Mohamed Al-Sager, a national assembly member and chairman of the Foreign Affairs Committee. "Usually when they do this the emir dissolves parliament but in Kuwait anything can happen. Kuwaitis are losing faith in democracy." Last Monday, the Kuwaiti emir reappointed his nephew, Sheikh Nasser Mohamed Al-Sabah, as prime minister and asked him to form the government. The coming cabinet will be the fourth since March 2007. Several ministers have been dismissed or resigned to avoid pressure or no-confidence votes from hostile deputies. Resignation of the government and/or dissolution of parliament is becoming a commonplace in the tiny rich oil emirate. Tensions between the government and parliament threaten economic reforms aimed at attracting investment and tackling the impact of the global financial crisis. Kuwait wants to diversify and revitalise its economy. But the timing of this crisis is very tough. The crisis jeopardises crucial economic reforms such as a plan to set up a market regulator and recent measures to tackle the impact of the global financial crisis by pumping cash into the Arab world's second-largest bourse to reverse months of decline. In his statement on Monday, the House speaker announced the cancellation of the parliamentary session on 16 December as the new cabinet has yet to be formed. "We will not hold any parliamentary session until a new government is appointed and the emir has affirmed there will be no dissolution of the parliament," he explained. The next session is expected to be held after the Arab economic summit in Kuwait 19-20 January. To be fair, Kuwait is regarded as one of the most politically democratic states among its Gulf Arab neighbours, but the manner by which they handle democracy is unusual to say the least. The emir dissolved parliament and called fresh elections earlier this year to resolve a previous standoff between parliament and the government, but turn-out was low and the elections produced a parliament much like the previous one, with an increase in religious deputies, so relations do not appear to have improved for him. The last assembly dedicated much time to questioning ministers and there have been multiple changes in the government lineup over the past two years as a number of ministers have stepped down under parliamentary pressure. Now, the government has resigned to protect the grilling of its prime minister and yet the emir proceeds to appoint him once again to form a new government. "It's becoming ridiculous -- it's only six months since we had an election. If the same prime minister comes back we are just back to square one," said a former minister. Vigorous debate and differences of opinion are hallmarks of a healthy democracy. But they shouldn't be allowed to get out of hand to derail democracy. What's happened in the last five years in Kuwait is not a true, genuine representation of democracy. How many governments have they had and how many parliaments in such a short span of time?
