Kuwait Times, Wednesday, Feb 08, 2023 | Rajab 17, 1444
Assembly sessions not nullified in govt absence: Expert
Kuwait:
Constitutional expert Muhammed Al-Faili said
article 116 of the constitution does not technically nullify National Assembly
sessions if the government is absent, and that the current norm of adjourning
the session was started by late MP Othman Khalil in 1964, who believed the
session must be adjourned because the government is not participating.
“His opinion could have been based on the basis that not enabling a member to
attend invalidates the meeting because it is similar to not inviting them to
attend the meeting, which is a valid opinion. The simplest way to clarify the
basis of the opinion is to rely on the operative part of article 116, even if it
does not determine the penalty resulting from the violation. What helped this is
its rationality, which is an important part of the oversight aspect of
jurisdiction, which assumes that at least one member of the government must be
present,” Faili explained.
“Moreover, resorting to it was for a few cases and for a very short period as
there was an informal agreement. However, its prolonged use opened the door to
re-examination of texts,” he added. “Giving legal value to this has led to the
emergence of a tool in dealing between the government and the parliament that
violates the constitutionally drawn mechanisms. In conclusion, little of this
was useful from a practical point of view and was politically acceptable, even
if its scientific basis was not sound, but its excessive use revealed the
seriousness of its side effects and its technical unsoundness,” he concluded.