Speaker of Kuwait's National Assembly Marzouq Ali Al-Ghanim

Kuwait speaker urges peers to be bold; "Don't turn into slaves for political paganism"

27/11/2021

MADRID-- Speaker of Kuwait's National Assembly Marzouq Ali Al-Ghanim has affirmed that criticism of some "erroneous practices in the democratic system and examining it regularly" is not aimed at undermining the governing regime, but rather safeguarding it.

Al-Ghanim, addressing the general assembly of the 143rd Inter-Parliamentary Union (IPU), thanked organizers who have chosen the theme "contemporary challenges in the face of democracies," as a main topic for debates during the international gathering.

The speaker of the Kuwaiti parliament has indicated that it is not sufficient to address or adopt democracy with superficial rhetorical discussions. "The matter warrants in-depth culture and intelligence," he noted, also underscoring other core issues in this respect, namely the practicing, the obstacles, the social, economic and cultural dimensions of the issue.

Al-Ghanim called upon his peers to put aside slogans and purported "sanctities" when addressing "this file." Masking any ruling regime, even in the cases where it has a democratic form, is the number-one hindrance in the face of the approach to renew and remedy its drawbacks, Al-Ghanim noted, stressing, "We should not be afraid when we point the finger at wrong practices; for democracy is a means not an objective; it is rather a practice and not a slogan and we ought not to turn into slaves for political paganism or legal statue even if they carry a democratic name." Democracy is not sacred and nothing should prohibit efforts to correct or guide it where the practices are not right, he has stressed further.

In his lengthy address to his peers, Al-Ghanim cautioned that democracy may encounter serious threats and challenges where the society witnesses sharp polarization with parties getting embroiled in irresponsible conflicts.

Moreover in the shadow of this system, social media may turn into an arena for strifes among intelligence agencies, ransom seekers and criminals, infested with rumors and misleading information intended to foment primitive and barbaric strifes of sectarian nature.

Setting other examples of unsound phenomena under the wings of democracy, he mentioned prevalence of the majorities at the expense of the rights of some communities. In some countries malpractices jeopardize development, speaker Al-Ghanim added.

Moreover, he urged the conferring legislators to hold further and longer discussions and brain-storming debates to pin point issues and shortcomings that transpire under democracy.

Al-Ghanim expressed readiness to host at the Kuwaiti parliament headquarters seminars to hold discussions and debates on the challenges facing democracy -- under the IPU aegis.

The Kuwaiti parliamentary delegation, headed by the speaker, arrived in Madrid on Wednesday to partake in the IPU conference.