Kuwait's Emir Sheikh Sabah Al-Ahmad Al-Sabah has appointed outgoing Defense Minister Sheikh Jaber Al-Mubarak Al-Sabah as Prime Minister, state TV and the national news agency said on Wednesday.

The Emir has asked the new Premier to form the cabinet which will be the eighth since February 2006 when the former Premier was appointed to the post.

Sheikh Jaber, 69, has been in the cabinet since 2001 and was also the first Deputy Premier in the outgoing cabinet.

The move follows the resignation of the Kuwaiti government after protesters and opposition deputies stormed parliament to demand that Prime Minister Sheikh Nasser Al-Mohammad Al-Sabah step down over corruption allegations.

The Kuwaiti opposition and youth activists have been launching a campaign since March to oust the former Prime Minister accusing him of failure to fight corruption and manage the wealthy Gulf state effectively.

The campaign intensified in August after allegations that about 15 pro-government MPs received illegal deposits into their bank accounts estimated by the opposition at $ 350 million.

At a massive opposition-sponsored rally on Monday, MPs appealed to the Emir to dissolve parliament saying they cannot sit with suspected corrupt lawmakers in the same chamber.

Kuwait is OPEC’s third largest producer, pumping around three million barrels per day. It has amassed over $ 300 billion in surpluses but development has been stalled due to almost non-stop political disputes.

 

Source: KNA; Khaleej Times