Nasser Mohammed Al-Ahmed Al-Sabah

Nasser Mohammed Al-Ahmed Al-Sabah الشيخ ناصر محمد الأحمد الصباح
Prime Minister of Kuwait
Incumbent
Assumed office 7 February 2006
Monarch	Sabah Al-Ahmad Al-Jaber Al-Sabah
Deputy	Jaber Al-Mubarak Al-Hamad Al-Sabah
Preceded by	Sabah Al-Ahmad Al-Jaber Al-Sabah
Minister of Social Affairs
In office 1988–1990
Prime Minister	Saad Al-Abdullah Al-Salim Al-Sabah
Preceded by	Jaber Al-Mubarak Al-Hamad Al-Sabah
Succeeded by	Jaber Abdullah Al-Jaber Al-Sabah
Ambassador of Kuwait to Iran
In office 1971–1979
Preceded by	Shabih Nabiry
Succeeded by	Ahmed Al-Mohammedi
Personal details
Born	February 1940 (age 71) Kuwait City, Kuwait
Political party	Independent
Spouse(s)	Khadije Al-Sabah
Alma mater	University of Geneva
Religion	Sunni Islam

Nasser Mohammed Al-Ahmed Al-Sabah (Arabic: الشيخ ناصر محمد الأحمد الصباح‎, born 11 February 1940) is a Kuwaiti politician who has been the Prime Minister of Kuwait since 2006. He was appointed Prime Minister on February 7, 2006 by the Amir, Sheikh Sabah Al-Ahmad Al-Jaber Al-Sabah and was in office until 1 April 2011 when his cabinet resigned due to a stand-off with parliament; he was reappointed on 6 April 2011. In 1964, HH Sheikh Nasser graduated from the University of Geneva (Switzerland) with a BA degree in Political Science and Economics. Before becoming Prime Minister, HH Sheikh Nasser had served as ambassador to Iran and Afghanistan, the minister of information, minister of social affairs and labour, minister of state for foreign affairs and minister of the Amiri Diwan. Married with two sons, he is fluent in Arabic, English, French and Persian.

The Amir re-appointed Sheikh Nasser as prime minister on March 6, 2007, after the previous government resigned on March 4 in a move observers believe was aimed at avoiding a no-confidence motion against Health Minister Sheikh Ahmed Al Abdullah Al Sabah. Ten MPs presented the motion in February over suspected financial and administrative breaches at the ministry. The vote was due to have taken place in parliament on March 5 and Sheikh Ahmad, a member of the ruling family, would have had to step down if legislators had voted against him. In December, Information Minister Muhammad Al Sanousi resigned a day before he was due to face questioning in parliament.

On November 16, 2008, Islamist MPs Waleed AlـTabtabaie, Mohammed AlـMutair, and Mohammed Hayef AlـMutairi filed a request to grill Prime Minister Nasser for allowing prominent Iranian Shiite cleric Mohammed al-Fali to enter Kuwait despite a legal ban.^[1] On November 25, the cabinet resigned, and on December 17 the Emir reappointed Nasser as Prime Minister of the new cabinet.^[2] And with the forming of the new cabinet, Nasser was no longer required to face the grilling which had been filed with the old cabinet.

Political career

In March 2009, the Kuwaiti Government submitted its resignation to the Emir of Kuwait after Islamist MPs requested a hearing of the P.M.

On May 9, after the election of the new Parliament, the Emir asked Sheik Mohammed to form the Kuwaiti Government for the sixth consecutive time. The new Government maintained supremacy for the Al-Ahmed Branch of the Al-Sabah Family.

In December 2009, opposition members of parliament filed a motion of "non-cooperation" against the Sheikh Nasser over corruption charges. Allegations were that his office misappropriated millions of dollars in the run up to the 2008 elections, and a $700,000 cheque issued to an MP in 2008.^[3]

In January 2011, he survived a vote of no-confidence in parliament with a vote of 25–25 (26 were needed to bring down the government).^[4]

In April 2011, his cabinet resigned due to a stand-off with parliament; he was reappointed on 6 April 2011 to form a new government.

Dispute with Speaker Al-Kharafi

On November 3, 2007, Parliamentary Speaker Jassem Al-Kharafi told the pan-Arab Arabiya television in an interview that he had "question marks" about the prime minister's decisions. A transcript of the interview was published in Alrai daily, which included Al-Kharafi's comment that too many reshuffles necessitate "a review and an evaluation of what measures should be taken." Al-Kharafi said the reshuffle should not have been put off for the whole summer and that it indicated a "policy of patching" up problems, rather than solving them.

In response, Prime Minister Nasser issued a statement about Al-Kharafi to the state-owned Kuwait News Agency, which was splashed on the front pages of daily newspapers. In the statement, PM Nasser said that Al-Kharafi was overstepping in bounds in trying to influence cabinet selections: "I have no doubt that .... the speaker realizes that his attempts to interfere in forming the Cabinet and affecting its decisions is overstretching his constitutional mandate."

The back-and-forth marked the first such public tensions between a speaker and a prime minister.^[5]

Awards & Honors

	November 1968	The Persian Imperial Decoration of the First Degree from the Shah of Iran, Mohammad Reza Pahlavi.
	1984	Decoration of the First Rank of Knight from the Mayor of Paris Jacques Chirac.
	15 August 1993	The First Degree National Decoration of the Republic of Argentina, from President Carlos Menem of Argentina.
	7 October 1994	The Highest Decoration of Knight of the Republic of Senegal from the Senegalese President Abdou Diouf.
	3 November 1996	Appreciation Certificate of the Rank of Excellence from the Organization of Islamic Conference.
	16 September 1997	The Most Distinguished Decoration of the Rank of Lion of Finland by President Marti Ahtisaari of Finland.
	15 November 2005	‘The Giglio’ Symbol, being the highest decoration of the city of Florence, presented by the Mayor of Florence - Italy, on the occasion of the Fifteenth Anniversary celebrations of the foundation of the Italia-Kuwait National Association.
	12 September 2006	Distinguished Decoration of France's 'Legion of Honour' with Grand Officer Class, conferred by H.E. Jacques Chirac, presented by H.E Dominique de Villepin, French Prime Minister, at the Hôtel Matignon.
	28 January 2007	The First Degree National Decoration "Qaladat Al-Istihaqaq" bestowed by H.H. Sheikh Hamad Bin Khalifa Al-Thani, Emir of the State of Qatar.
	29 January 2007	The First Degree National Decoration "Al-Ittihad" bestowed by H.H. Sheikh Khalifa bin Zayed Al Nahyan, President of the United Arab Emirates.
	9 April 2007	Received decoration of "Grande Croix de l'Ordre National du Mérite" of the Republic of Senegal from the Senegalese President Abdoulaye Wade.
	30 May 2007	The Highest Indonesian Order of Merit received from President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono of Indonesia.
	13 December 2007	Received a copy of the key of the city of Tirana on the occasion of his state visit to Albania.[6]
	27 May 2008	Sash of Civil Merits from His Majesty King Juan Carlos I of Spain.
	12 October 2011	Honorary Citizen of Tirana, capital of Albania. [7]

See also

• Al-Sabah

References

1. ^ Kuwait Islamist MPs to quiz premier over Iran cleric AFP 16 November 2008
2. ^ Kuwait re-appoints prime minister BBC
3. ^ Kuwait MPs seek to unseat PM Al Jazeera
4. ^ http://english.aljazeera.net/news/middleeast/2011/01/20111581427365727.html
5. ^ Parliament speaker and prime minister bicker publicly
6. ^ Received a copy of the key of the city of Tirana
7. ^ Municipality of Tirana (in Albanian)

External links

• Official site

Political offices
Preceded by Sabah Al-Ahmad Al-Jaber Al-Sabah	Prime Minister of Kuwait 2006-present	Incumbent

Persondata
Name	Nasser Al-Mohammed Al-Ahmed Al-Sabah
Alternative names
Short description
Date of birth	11 February 1940
Place of birth	Kuwait City, Kuwait
Date of death
Place of death