The new emir of Kuwait, Meshaal al-Ahmad al-Jaber Al-Sabah, after being sworn in today as the 17th monarch of the oil state, criticized the government and parliament for “damaging the interests of the country”.

“I referred in previous speeches to national goals that must be met,” the 83-year-old leader told members of parliament, criticizing institutions for not taking “any action.”

According to him, the parliament and the government, on the contrary, “damaged the interests of the country” by proceeding mainly to appointments and to promotions in the public sector that “do not meet the simplest criteria of justice and honesty”.

He pledged to review these decisions after already signing a decree on December 5 ordering a halt to hiring in the public sector.

“This is one of the most powerful inauguration speeches ever delivered,” Kuwait University’s Bader al-Saif wrote on Platform X.
According to him, the new emir criticized “in an unprecedented way” the government and the parliament.

Meshaal, the reformer

Succeeding his half-brother, Nawaf, who passed away on Saturday, Meshaal he wants to get the country out of a long-term political crisis and to reform him hypertrophic public sector which has made Kuwait fall behind the other Gulf countries.

Kuwait, which borders Saudi Arabia and Iraq, has 7% of the world’s crude oil reserves. Its debt is not high and it has one of the strongest treasuries in the world.

However the country faces recurring crises between the elected parliament and the governmentdominated by the Al-Sabah princely family.

These conflicts have prevented the adoption of reforms to diversify the economy, while accumulated budget deficits and a lack of foreign investment have contributed to the surrounding gloom.

During his long career within his country’s security apparatus, Meshaal has stayed out of the fray within the princely family.
He will have to choose a crown prince and the question will be whether or not he chooses a representative of the new generation of Al-Sabah.

The new emir will also have to appoint a prime minister, whose cabinet will deal with a parliament in which the opposition is active.