Sheikh Nawaf al-Ahmad al-Jaber al-Sabah has been appointed the 16th Emir of Kuwait.
The newly assigned Emir of Kuwait is the sixth son of the 10th Ruler from the Al Sabah dynasty, Sheikh Ahmad Al-Jaber Al-Sabah, who ruled Kuwait from 1921 to 1950.
A half-brother to two of the gulf state’s rulers, Sheikh Nawaf al-Ahmad was born on June 25, 1937 and was raised in Dasman Palace. He received his early education in different Kuwaiti schools.
He assumed his first governmental position on February 21, 1961 as governor of Hawalli Governorate, until March 19, 1978, when he was appointed Minister of Interior for ten years.
Sheikh Nawaf al-Ahmad is credited for shaping the modern administration at the Kuwaiti Interior Ministry. He assumed responsibility for the ministry over two periods, the first from March 1978 to January 1988, and the second from 2003 to 2006.
He is behind modernizing the interior ministry’s security institution in a way that meets security challenges the country faces.
On January 26, 1988, he was appointed the country’s Minister of Defense and served in this position until 1992.
Following the liberation of Kuwait from an Iraqi invasion, Sheikh Nawaf al-Ahmad was appointed as the acting Minister of Labor and Social Affairs in April 1991. Between 1994 and 2003, Sheikh Nawaf al-Ahmad was appointed the deputy chief of the National Guard.
In 2003 he returned to his former post as Interior Minister and served that office until 2006, when he was designated Crown Prince.
With the ascendance of the late Sheikh Sabah Al-Ahmad Al-Jaber Al-Sabah to the leadership of Kuwait on 29 January 2006, an Emiri Decree was issued on 7 February 2006, officially appointing Sheikh Nawaf al-Ahmad as the Crown Prince.
Kuwait’s National Assembly approved the designation on February 20, 2006.
Sheikh Nawaf al-Ahmad is married to Sharifa Sulaiman Al-Jasem, and has four sons and a daughter.
Weighing in on the corruption file in Kuwait, he pointed out on August 23 that royal family members are not above the law where the fight against corruption is concerned.
In a televised address to the public, Sheikh Nawaf al-Ahmad said “no offender will escape punishment”.
“Members of the Royal Family are a part of the Kuwaiti people, and the same laws apply to them. Whoever makes a mistake bears responsibility for that mistake,” he added.
