The Kuwaiti Legislature as Ombudsman: The Legislative Committee on Petitions and Complaints

Until the National Assembly of Kuwait was dissolved in 1976, it had a Committee on Petitions and Complaints that performed many of the functions of an ombudsman. An analysis of its operations for a three-year period (1963-1965) shows that it handled a large number of petitions and complaints from both groups and individuals and that a substantial proportion of those that the Committee thought were justifiable were resolved. Often these problems were brought originally to members of the Assembly, and were taken to the Committee only if the member could not solve them. One source of the Committee's influence has been the ability to bring recommendations to the Assembly and ask it for endorsement of the recommendation by resolution or for enactment of appropriate legislation. The work of the Committee has been somewhat hindered by a lack of staff and by the attitudes of members, who believe that the Assembly should not waste its time on petitions and complaints that often appear to be unjustified or trivial.