VZCZCXYZ0027
OO RUEHWEB

DE RUEHKU #0522 1001336
ZNY CCCCC ZZH
O 101336Z APR 07
FM AMEMBASSY KUWAIT
TO SECSTATE WASHDC IMMEDIATE 8748

C O N F I D E N T I A L KUWAIT 000522 
 
SIPDIS 
 
SIPDIS 
NOFORN 
 
FOR NEA/ARP 
 
E.O. 12958: DECL: 04/08/2017 
TAGS: PGOV KISL KDEM KU ISLAMISTS
SUBJECT: ISLAMIST MPS' GRILLING REQUESTS REKINDLE 
UNCONSTITUTIONAL DISSOLUTION RUMORS 
 
REF: A. 06 KUWAIT 4682 
     ¶B. 06 KUWAIT 4430 
 
Classified By: CDA Matthew H. Tueller for reasons 1.4(b) and (d). 
 
¶1.  (C/NF)  Summary and comment:  While many opposition MPs 
appeared willing to give the new government a chance to show 
it can perform, two tribal Islamist MPs have kept the 
political heat on, calling for parliamentary grillings of the 
Finance and Islamic Affairs Ministers.  Most politicians and 
editorialists oppose the grillings as unnecessarily 
antagonistic and other Islamist MPs have stepped in to 
mediate what would be yet another confrontation between the 
Government and parliament.  Rumblings of an Amiri order 
dissolving Parliament have resurfaced quickly.  The 
Government designed the current cabinet to stand up to 
destabilizing efforts but those left out of the backroom 
political deals may use the power afforded them in Kuwait's 
democracy to force a showdown.   End Summary and Comment. 
 
¶2.  (C/NF)  Despite widespread calls for an end to the cycle 
of unproductive parliamentary attacks on cabinet ministers, 
the issue of "grilling" ministers has quickly resurfaced for 
the new Government.  Tribal Islamist MP Daifallah Bou Ramya 
has stepped up his threats to grill Finance Minister Badr 
Al-Humaidhi and MP Abdullah Akkash has continued a lower-key 
push to grill Islamic Affairs Minister Abdullah Al-Maatouq 
(Comment: Both MPs had threatened to grill these ministers 
prior to their reappointment.  End comment.)  Speculation 
about an unconstitutional dissolution of Parliament, which 
filled diwaniyyas and editorial pages late last year (ref B), 
has begun to reappear.  Some have responded to this 
speculation, and its implicit threat from the Government, in 
unusually harsh terms.  Veteran MP Ahmed Al-Saadoun was 
quoted in newspapers as saying "playing with the constitution 
will be the end of their (the ruling family's) regime." 
 
¶3.  (C/NF)  Bou Ramya has accused the Finance Minister of 
improprieties in the Public Investment Authority and of 
insufficient oversight over lending institutions.  However, 
many believe Bou Ramya is motivated in large part by 
Humaidhi's role in scuttling legislation to write off 
Kuwaitis' personal loans in December (ref A), an issue of 
great interest to Bou Ramya's tribal constituents. 
 
¶4.  (C/NF)  Editorialists and most politicians have 
criticized Bou Ramya's grilling threats as a continuation of 
last year's cycle of unproductive personal political attacks 
between parliament and the Government.  Parliament's Popular 
Action Bloc is withholding judgment, but the liberal National 
Action Bloc has already come out unequivocally against the 
grilling.  The Islamic Bloc is divided.  The Islamic 
Constitutional Movement (the political wing of Kuwait's 
Muslim Brotherhood) has publicly opposed the grilling, with 
ICM MP Khudheir Al-Enezi telling the press that the grilling 
was hasty and that "Kuwaitis are sick of escalations."  Wael 
Al-Hasawi, the former editor of the Salafi weekly newspaper, 
wrote in Al-Watan on April 10 that "everyone knows Bou 
Ramya's threats come from sour grapes (over the loans 
issue)," and that the people have had enough of "pettiness" 
between the parliament and Government.  Al-Hasawi added that 
Bou Ramya's actions would tarnish the Islamic bloc as a 
whole. 
 
¶5.  (C/NF)  MP Abdullah Akkash's campaign to grill Islamic 
Affairs Minister Abdullah Al-Maatouq is based ostensibly on 
allegations of financial improprieties in the ministry. 
While there may be some basis to the allegations, the real 
reason probably lies in the fact that many conservative 
Islamists are uncomfortable with Al-Maatouq's unorthodoxies 
(he is rumored to have Sufi proclivities) and may be upset 
that he has focused on issues which some Islamists oppose, 
such as the Moderation Center, and has neglected other 
projects that they support.  Al-Ma'atouq's involvement in 
banning books by Salafi ideologues such as Bin Baz in an 
Islamic book festival in 2006 is an example of where he gets 
on the wrong side of hard line Islamists.  Islamists waged a 
public campaign to discredit Al-Maatouq during the period 
around the cabinet dissolution and some likely see his 
reappointment as a Governmental rebuke. 
 
********************************************* * 
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/ 
********************************************* * 
Tueller