Speaker al-Ghanim has sanguine expectations about new government

National Assembly Speaker Marzouq al-Ghanim told reporters on Tuesday that he hoped that the new members of the cabinet would set in their sights the aspirations of the Kuwaiti people as they started their new jobs. He said that the Assembly was ready to get to work, now that the new government was fully accounted for with the addition of new members, noting that the Assembly would set aside new sessions to vote on draft laws arrived at by the National Assembly committees. Regarding a special session for next Thursday, he said that the decision for that would be taken by lawmakers in tomorrow's session. And on the report prepared by the finance and economic committee regarding draft laws deemed as vital and urgent by the public, the Speaker said these draft laws were best examined in tomorrow's session, while giving time for the new ministers to get acquainted with them. He further noted that the government was absolutely serious about solving the housing crisis, despite the ouster of the minister of housing and his being replaced in the newly-formed government. He emphasized that solving the housing problem did not depend on changes in personalities but on firmly-established housing policies. He urged the newly-appointed minister of state for housing affairs Yasser Hassan Abul to enlist the assistance of the best qualified personnel to speed up addressing the details of the housing problem, concomitantly with efforts of the lawmakers to set in motion appropriate legislations to bring a satisfactory conclusion to this long-winded problem.