Kuwait deputy PM allowed to quit after five weeks

Members of Kuwait's parliament last month applied to question Sheikh Ahmed Fahad al Sabah over issues including constitutional violations and the misuse of public funds.

KUWAIT CITY // The resignation of Sheikh Ahmed Fahad al Sabah, the deputy prime minister for economic affairs, was accepted yesterday, 37 days after he took posts in a new cabinet.

"A decree has been issued accepting the resignation of Sheikh Ahmed al Fahad from the government," said the minister of state for cabinet affairs, Ali al Rashid, in comments reported in the local press. Sheikh Ahmed, a senior royal, was also the minister of state for development affairs and the minister of state for housing affairs.

Mr al Rashid said Sheikh Mohammed Sabah al Sabah, the deputy premier and minister of foreign affairs, was appointed as acting head of the vacant ministries.

Members of parliament last month applied to question Sheikh Ahmed over several issues including constitutional violations and the misuse of public funds. The National Assembly backed the minister's request for a parliamentary committee to rule if the motion was constitutionally acceptable. On Sunday they decided it was.

Several members of parliament said to be close to the prime minister, Sheikh Nasser Mohammed al Sabah, voted against Sheikh Ahmed's request to send the motion to the committee.