Kuwait’s Emir Sheikh Sabah al-Ahmed al-Jaber al-Sabah has accepted on 13 June the resignation of Deputy Prime Minister Sheikh Ahmed al-Fahad al-Sabah following a dispute with the prime minister.

The decree says Foreign Minister Mohammed al-Sabah has been temporarily assigned as the Minister for Housing and Development until a permanent replacement is selected.

While the reason for Sheikh Ahmed’s resignation is unclear, he was thought to be locked in a power struggle with Prime Minister Sheikh Nasser Mohammed al-Ahmad al-Sabah, another member of the ruling family.

During a parliamentary session on 31 May, MPs close to the prime minister voted against a request by Sheikh Ahmad to refer a grilling against him to a parliamentary panel to investigate whether it breached the constitution.

The panel ruled on 11 June that his grilling, in which Sheikh Ahmad would be accused of corruption and mismanagement, was in line with the constitution and should be debated in parliament on 14 June.