VZCZCXRO0344
RR RUEHDE RUEHDIR
DE RUEHKU #1760/01 3611540
ZNY CCCCC ZZH
R 271540Z DEC 07
FM AMEMBASSY KUWAIT
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC 0471
INFO RUEHZM/GULF COOPERATION COUNCIL COLLECTIVE

C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 03 KUWAIT 001760 
 
SIPDIS 
 
SIPDIS 
 
DEPT FOR NEA/ARP AND A/OPR/OS BEA CAMERON 
 
E.O. 12958: DECL: 12/25/2017 
TAGS: PGOV PINR SOCI KISL KWMN KU NATIONAL ASSEMBLY
SUBJECT: PARLIAMENTARY CRISIS CONTINUES - ASSEMBLY WILL 
GRILL EDUCATION MINISTER 
 
REF: A. KUWAIT 1590 
     ¶B. KUWAIT 1562 
 
Classified By: Charge Alan Minsenheimer for reasons 1.4 (b) and (d) 
 
¶1. (C) SUMMARY: On December 24, Islamist MP Saad Al-Shraye 
filed a motion to "grill" Minister of Education (and the only 
remaining female minister) Nouriya Al-Sabeeh.  The grilling 
comes in response to a well-publicized sexual assault at a 
Kuwaiti primary school, but is more accurately a reflection 
of Parliament's ongoing contentious relationship with the 
Government of Kuwait (GOK).  Expectations of an impending 
Amiri decision to dissolve Parliament are running high, which 
the Amir himself has reinforced through his recent comments 
and actions.  END SUMMARY. 
 
 
Islamist MP Calls for a Grilling 
-------------------------------- 
 
¶2. (U) On December 24, Islamist MP Saad Al-Shraye filed a 
motion for the interpellation (i.e. "grilling") of Education 
Minister Nouriya Al-Sabeeh (the only remaining female 
minister after the August resignation of then-Health Minister 
Dr. Masouma Al-Mubarak).  In justifying his request, 
Al-Shraye cited four points: 1) that Al-Sabeeh deliberately 
misled MPs in responding to an incident of sexual assault on 
three children at a Kuwaiti primary school; 2) that she 
showed favoritism in appointments and dismissals at the 
ministry; 3) that she is responsible for a deteriorating 
standard of education, and 4) that she failed to rigidly 
apply gender segregation in schools throughout Kuwait. 
Al-Shraye will grill the Minister on January 8, which may 
then lead to a parliamentary no-confidence motion.  To pass, 
the no-confidence motion would require majority support from 
the 48 elected MPs. 
 
¶3. (C) Saad Al-Shraye is a member of the neo-Islamist group 
in Parliament, which is anti-government and has opposed 
Al-Sabeeh as Education Minister since her appointment in 
March 2007.  The neo-Islamists, together with the Islamic 
Constitutional Movement (ICM)(i.e. the Kuwaiti Muslim 
Brotherhood) and the Salafi Islamic grouping, constitute the 
Islamic Bloc in Parliament.  (Note: While the ICM and the 
Salafis have not yet gone on record as opposing Al-Sabeeh 
outright, they are likely to support the grilling and a 
no-confidence vote against the Minister.  End note.) 
 
 
Parliament At Odds With The Government 
-------------------------------------- 
 
¶4. (C) Relations between Kuwait's executive branch and 
Parliament have been consistently tense since the current 
Amir, Shaykh Sabah Al-Ahmad Al Sabah, came to power in 
January 2006.  Parliamentarians have kept the GOK on the 
defensive with accusations of corruption and mismanagement, 
and the GOK's efforts to recapture the initiative have been 
ineffective.  This impasse has produced a series of 
grillings, both threatened and actual, against government 
ministers.  As a result, five ministers have resigned or been 
forced out since January 2007. 
 
 
Ulterior Motives Abound 
----------------------- 
 
¶5. (C) A more likely reason for the Minister's grilling, 
however, is discontent among Islamists over how Al-Sabeeh is 
running her ministry, which has traditionally been an 
Islamist stronghold.  Al-Sabeeh is an able administrator who 
worked her way through the ranks of the Education Ministry. 
She has taken several steps to improve efficiency and 
accountability there, including removing Islamist cronies, 
enhancing transparency in university appointments and 
refusing to dispense special favors on the basis of "wasta." 
Her actions have enraged the Islamists, who are at the 
vanguard of parliamentary opposition to her.  In addition, 
the fact that she is a woman, a liberal and that she refuses 
to wear a head scarf does not sit well with Kuwaiti 
conservatives in general. 
 
¶6. (C) In a conversation with Poloff on December 5, the 
Director of Political Relations for the Islamic 
Constitutional Movement (ICM), Mohammed Al-Dallal, said that 
his party is unhappy with Al-Sabeeh's centralization of power 
and appointment of "weak" underlings to implement her 
program.  Apparently Al-Sabeeh has not shared the outline of 
her reform program with the ICM, despite their repeated 
requests.  He asserted that the ICM attempted to resolve this 
 
KUWAIT 00001760  002 OF 003 
 
 
impasse discretely by approaching both Al-Sabeeh and the 
Prime Minister on separate occasions, but to no avail. 
Al-Dallal accused Al-Sabeeh of being a technocrat who lacks 
political acumen, and he expressed frustration with the Prime 
Minister's lack of leadership in general. 
 
¶7. (C) Liberal MPs such as Mohammed Al-Saqar believe that 
some parliamentarians are attempting to provoke the Amir into 
dissolving the National Assembly.  Their strategy is 
continued confrontation with the GOK, an assault on ministers 
and a general unwillingness to pass critical legislation, so 
the theory goes.  They gamble that the Amir will dissolve 
Parliament constitutionally, meaning that he must call for 
new elections within 60 days.  This would provide them with 
an opportunity to make further electoral gains.  This gamble 
would fail, however, if the Amir opted for an 
unconstitutional dissolution.  Under this scenario, the Amir 
would suspend Parliament for some longer period while he 
enacted long-pending legislation and amended the constitution 
to limit Parliamentary prerogatives. 
 
 
Gender Segregation 
------------------ 
 
¶8. (U) The complete gender segregation of all schools in 
Kuwait, both public and private, has been a particular point 
of emphasis among the Islamist MPs recently.  Al-Shraye has 
accused the minister of "undermining the values and morals of 
society" by not rigidly enforcing this segregation. 
Islamists have highlighted the undesirable intermingling of 
the sexes at school functions and parties, to include at 
least one incident of a co-ed swimming competition that the 
Islamists found particularly irksome.  (Note: The Islamists' 
gender segregation requirement would also apply to expatriate 
schools attended by embassy children.  The National 
Assembly's Education Committee is currently reviewing draft 
legislation to legally require such segregation in all 
schools, although it appears unlikely to be brought to a vote 
anytime soon.  End note.) 
 
 
The Amir is "Fed Up" 
-------------------- 
 
¶9. (C) Expectations of an Amiri decision to dissolve 
Parliament have waxed and waned repeatedly over recent 
months, and are now high and rising.  On December 17, 
Mohammed Al-Dallal told Poloff that the Amir is "fed up" with 
the political climate in the country.  He noted that while 
this particular grilling is the most recent symptom of a 
general political malaise, Parliament's consistently 
combative nature and its unwillingness to do more than 
constituent pandering had finally convinced the Amir to 
dissolve the National Assembly.  Al-Dallal speculated that 
the Amir would dissolve Parliament constitutionally. 
 
¶10. (C) According to the UK Ambassador, the Amir was 
unusually forthright in discussing domestic politics with ME 
envoy Tony Blair earlier this month.  The Amir reportedly 
took the initiative to list Parliament's deficiencies and lay 
out the constitutional basis for dissolution, telling Blair: 
"Don't be surprised if I do it." 
 
¶11. (C) On December 16 Poloff met with Ali Al-Baghli, a 
former MP and Oil Minister whom the GOK consults on political 
issues.  Al-Baghli said that the Amir recently met with a 
group of former ministers regarding parliamentary relations, 
and they unanimously advised him to dissolve Parliament.  He 
said the Amir was "playing it cool" and waiting for public 
sentiment to completely turn against Parliament prior to 
dissolving it.  Al-Baghli cautioned that the results of a new 
parliamentary election would be uncertain given recent 
electoral redistricting.  He noted, however, that the 
conservative Salafis and Muslim Brotherhood were more 
organized than the liberals, and that Kuwaitis were basically 
conservative by nature; hinting at potential Islamist 
electoral gains. 
 
 
Comment 
------- 
 
¶12. (C) Both Islamist MPs and the Amir are likely mindful of 
the impending POTUS visit as they consider next steps.  While 
the Amir would certainly prefer not to dissolve Parliament on 
the eve of the visit, Islamists may hope to force his hand so 
as to portray themselves as "victims" of both the government 
and the Americans.  We expect the GOK to seek a period of 
quiet to cover the first half of January; but the Amir may 
 
KUWAIT 00001760  003 OF 003 
 
 
find that dissolving Parliament is the only way to get even a 
two-week respite from harsh accusations and grilling demands 
aimed at his beleaguered ministers.  END COMMENT. 
 
********************************************* * 
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/ 
********************************************* * 
MISENHEIMER