KUWAIT Kuwait's parliamentary speaker said cabinet ministers had apparently offered their resignations to the prime minister on Sunday but had yet to be accepted.

"I have heard that the ministers have presented their resignations to his highness Crown Prince and Prime Minister Sheikh Saad al-Abdulla al-Sabah," the speaker, Jassem al-Kharafi, told Reuters by telephone.

The government, formed in July 1999 after general elections, has come under repeated attack in the country's elected Parliament, the only such assembly in the Persian Gulf Arab region.

Kharafi told reporters he was informed that ministers had tendered their resignations to the prime minister who was due to hand them to Emir Sheikh Jaber al-Ahmad al-Sabah on Monday.

He expressed hope that "there will be decisiveness in dealing with the resignation and that matters will not be left without review for the interest of political stability..."

If Sheikh Saad, prime minister since 1978, accepts the resignations, he will then offer his government's resignation to the ruler of the OPEC member country for his final approval.

A strong rumor that the government had resigned has swept the small country of some 825,000 Kuwaitis and 1.4 foreigners, but a cabinet minister denied it in a telephone conversation with Reuters after the weekly government meeting.

Sheikh Saad headed the meeting, which issued its routine statement with no reference to resignations or a request by an opposition lawmaker on Saturday to carry out a tough questioning of a minister in Parliament.

Government Often Accused of Weakness

MPs often accuse this government of a lack of harmony and weakness and have demanded its resignation. Politicians and newspapers have been saying for weeks that the cabinet would soon step down.

The request to question a minister could attract the support of many parliamentarians, politicians said, but Kharafi said that although he was not aware of the reason for the resignation it would not be linked to the request by MP Hussein al-Qallaf.

A government resigned in 1998 when then-information minister Sheikh Saud Nasser al-Sabah appeared set to lose a no-confidence vote after his questioning. He is the current oil minister.

Islamist Qallaf, an Iran-educated Muslim Shia religious leader, sent Parliament a 113-page request accusing justice, endowments and Islamic Affairs Minister Saad al-Hashel of four counts of negligence and failure to carry out his duties.

The request follows one against Adel al-Subaih, electricity and water minister and minister of state for housing affairs, who survived a no-confidence vote in December.

Shortly after a minister faced questioning in Parliament, the emir dissolved the house in May 1999 and ordered early elections to end almost three years of repeated standoffs and internal crises between Parliament and the government.

Kharafi told reporters he saw no "indications" for a fresh dissolution of Parliament whose members cover a wide political spectrum from liberal to traditionalist tribal politicians.

Qallaf's request accuses the minister of a failure to tackle alleged corruption in his department, incorrect implementation of laws and lack of seriousness in dealing with what he called thieves of public funds.

Parliament is due to meet on February 5 when it will review Qallaf's request and set a date for the official questioning of the minister if the government is still in power.

The questioning could be followed by a no-confidence vote. When asked about the fate of the request, Kharafi said it stands until such time as the ministers' resignation was confirmed.

(Reuter)