Al-Sabah. *Photo credit: qeight.com

ST. JOHN’S, Antigua, CMC – A Kuwaiti Member of Parliament has raised doubts on the recent visit of Prime Minister Sheikh Nasser Mohammad Al-Ahmad Al-Sabah to the Caribbean, accusing some parties of trying to transform the official visit into a personal tour at the expense of the government.

Admitting no one has the right to question the personal holidays of the premier as this is his privilege MP Musallam Al-Barrak said that he has nothing against officials spending their holidays abroad.

But he said that it was unacceptable if some of them try to transform their official trips to other countries as personal tours, since this is tantamount to squandering public funds.

In articles in Arab newspapers, Al-Barrak questioned the prime minister’s decision to choose Antigua and Barbuda as the first stop on his official tour to the Latin American countries, says this was “just a small island in the Caribbean with a total area of not more than 442 square kilometers and population of not more than 82,000.”

He asked how Kuwait can benefit from the agreements signed with the Baldwin Spencer administration, considering Antigua and Barbuda’s economic growth rate is less than 0.5 per cent.
Al-Barrak also wants to know if the person in charge of the prime minister’s itinerary had taken into consideration the feelings of Kuwaitis when he included Cuba in the tour.

“Is it logical to include this country in the itinerary of the prime minister a few days before the 20th anniversary of the brutal Iraqi occupation of Kuwait? Everybody knows that Cuba supported Iraq’s deceitful acts against Kuwait,” the lawmaker said.

“Cuba and Yemen voted against United Nations (UN) resolution number 678, which authorized the coalition to use force in liberating Kuwait from the claws of the Iraqi regime at the time. Do they want to convince us that the agreements signed with Cuba are in the interest of Kuwait?”

Unveiling his plan to forward questions to the prime minister upon his return to the country, Al-Barrak said he will demand clarifications on the signed agreements, approved investments, names of the members of the accompanying delegation, their duties, and meetings attended by the private sector representatives who are part of the premier’s entourage.

He said that he hopes to get adequate and clear answers from the prime minister, especially since the visit was supposed to serve the interests of Kuwait and its people.