Six key figures in Kuwait politics
Sheikh Sabah al-Ahmad al-Jaber al-Sabah
Position: Emir
Biography: Sheikh Sabah al-Ahmad al-Jaber al-Sabah has been the head of the Al-Sabah family and ruled Kuwait since January 2006. He succeeded Sheikh Saad al-Abdullah al-Salim al-Sabah, who was voted out of power by parliament on health grounds after only nine days in power. Sheikh Sabah was proclaimed emir and unanimously elected by Kuwait’s parliament, the National Assembly. Previously, he had served as prime minister since 2003. Sheikh Sabah has served in a number of ministerial positions since 1962, when he was appointed Guidance and Information Minister. A year later, he was appointed foreign affairs minister, a post he held for nearly 40 years. In February 1978, he was also appointed deputy prime minister. Sheikh Sabah served in both positions until 2003. He also held the post of information minister from 1982 to 1985. Sheikh Sabah was educated at the Mubarakiya School in Kuwait before he joined the royal court.
Contact Email: amirsoffice@da.gov.kw
Sheikh Nawaf al-Ahmad al-Jaber al-Sabah
Position: Crown Prince, Kuwait
Biography: In a surprise decision, Sheikh Nawaf al-Ahmad al-Jaber al-Sabah, the half-brother of the current emir was named crown prince in 2006. For the previous 85 years, the Al-Sabah family had alternated the position of emir and crown prince between the Al-Salem and Al-Jaber branches of the family. Sheikh Nawaf was appointed interior minister in March 1978, and in January 1988, he was appointed defence minister. In March 2009, the emir announced that Sheikh Nawaf would succeed his nephew, Nasser al-Mohammed al-Ahmed al-Sabah, to become the new prime minister of Kuwait. Sheikh Nawaf was one of the founders of the state’s modern police force and, until his appointment as crown prince, was also deputy chief of the Kuwait National Guard.
Contact Tel: (+965) 2222 1056
Sheikh Jaber al-Mubarak al-Hamad al-Sabah
Position: Prime Minister
Biography: Sheikh Jaber al-Mubarak al-Hamad al-Sabah was sworn in as Kuwait’s seventh prime minister in December 2011. He took over from Sheikh Nasser al-Mohammed al-Sabah, the emir’s nephew, who resigned following allegations of corruption levelled by the opposition in parliament. Sheikh Jaber previously served as supervisor of administrative affairs in Amiri Diwan from 1968, before becoming the department’s director in 1975. Since then, he has worked in a number of ministries, including the Social Affairs and Labour Ministry. Following the liberation of Kuwait from Iraqi occupation in 1992, Sheikh Jaber was appointed adviser to the office of the late emir Sheikh Jaber al-Ahmad al-Jaber al-Sabah, a position he served in until 2001. Prior to his current position, he was named first deputy prime minister and defence minister in 2007. One of his first actions as prime minister was to dissolve parliament in December 2011. Kuwait held fresh elections to the 50-member parliament in February.
Contact Email: contact@pm.gov.kw
Sheikh Sabah Khalid al-Hamad al-Sabah
Position: Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Affairs Minister
Biography: Sheikh Sabah Khalid al-Hamad al-Sabah is one of four members to maintain portfolios in Kuwait’s latest cabinet following parliamentary elections in February. Sheikh Sabah has held the positions of deputy prime minister and foreign affairs minister since October 2011. Prior to this, Sheikh Sabah held a number of ministerial positions, starting with the Social Affairs and Labour Ministry in 2006. He also briefly served as information minister and acting minister of justice and Islamic affairs from April to May 2009. From 1978-95, he worked at the Arab affairs desk at the Foreign Affairs Ministry. Between 1995 and 1998, he served as ambassador to Saudi Arabia. Sheikh Sabah graduated with a bachelor’s degree in political science from Kuwait University in 1977.
Contact Tel: (+965) 2242 5141
Hani Abdulaziz Hussain
Position: Oil Minister
Biography: As Oil Minister, Hani Abdulaziz Hussain is responsible for managing Kuwait’s hydrocarbons sector, including getting parliament to agree to two stalled major downstream projects. Hussain has worked in the country’s hydrocarbons sector since 1972, staring as a process engineer at state refiner, Kuwait National Petroleum Company (KNPC). Five years later, he was appointed planning manager for international marketing. In 1980, he was appointed as executive assistant to the managing director for marketing at Kuwait Petroleum Company (KPC). In 1990, Hussain was nominated as chairman and managing director of Petrochemical Industries Company (PIC), before returning to KPC as director of marketing in 1995. Hussain served as chairman of KNPC between 1998 and 2004, and then chief executive officer of KPC. He graduated with a degree in chemical engineering from the University of Tulsa in the US in 1971.
Contact Email: alnaft@moo.gov.kw
Ahmed al-Sadoun
Position: Speaker, National Assembly
Biography: Ahmad al-Sadoun was elected speaker of the Kuwait’s National Assembly in February after winning his seat in parliament for the eleventh time at the age of 77. He takes over from Jassim al-Kharafi, who served as speaker for 12 years from 1999. Al-Sadoun had previously served as speaker from 1985 to 1999. Before entering politics, Al-Sadoun was the president of the Kuwait Football Association from 1968 to 1976, and vice-president of the Zurich-based Fifa, football’s international governing body. Al-Sadoun is a leading member of the Popular Action bloc, which now has five members in parliament. During his first stint as speaker, Al-Sadoun criticised the involvement of international oil companies (IOCs) in Kuwait’s oil and gas sector, stalling the country’s landmark upstream initiative known as Project Kuwait. The scheme aimed to bring in IOCs to help exploit Kuwait’s oil reserves.
Contact Tel: (+965) 2200 0000
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