Govt can’t address demographic imbalance: MPs

KUWAIT CITY, Sept 9: The MPs are overwhelming convinced that the government is unable to address the demographic imbalance in the country, reports Al-Rai daily.

The parliamentarians said several proposals contained in the file need to be addressed through legislation and not to be solved by the executive authority.

It is evident the expatriates are not responsible for the imbalance in population which is a making of the visa traders who should be held accountable and tough action taken against them.

The MPs say they are concerned about the whole situation because on day the citizens will become a minority in their country and will not exceed 10 percent of the entire population since there are many development projects in the pipeline which will require a large number of expatriate workers.

They have called on the Minister of Social Affairs and Labor to hand over the file of fake companies to the National Assembly to discuss the issue of demographics and the issue of excess foreign workers during its next session.

When the Government Manpower and Restructuring Program (MGRP) and the executive authority of the State, in cooperation with 30 cooperative societies offered jobs for the citizens in 15 different professions, these jobs are being rejected by the national cadre, reports Al-Qabas daily quoting reliable sources.

The daily quoting the same sources said more than 9,737 youth are seeking jobs in the private sector but only a few of them have accepted to work in cooperative societies.

The sources added, more than 97 percent of the jobs available in coops are male oriented which means 1,907 jobs out of total of 1,948.

According to the heads of cooperative societies after attending the interviews the applicants refuse to take jobs and one of the main reasons is the hours of duty are unsuitable for them or consider the jobs incompatible with their school or academic certificates although this is not true since some of them hold certificates in administration, accounting and auditing.

Meanwhile, Member of Parliament Yusuf Al-Fadhala has criticized the disorganized state of Kuwait International Airport and massive congestion caused by passengers returning from Hajj or tourism, blaming the government for its failure to properly manage the airport, reports Al-Qabas daily.

In a statement on his personal Twitter feed, MP Al-Fadhala wondered the last time HH the Prime Minister made an inspection tour of the airport, and said “we are witnesses to crisis at Kuwait International Airport this time of the year in terms of irrational congestion of people (travelers) departing or arriving from holiday trips or Hajj”.

MP Al-Fadhala noted everybody is disappointed by government’s failure to properly manage the airport, which is the face of the country. He categorized Kuwait airport among the worst airports in the region and the world, saying some activities assigned to certain companies have rather increased the level of government’s failure in this aspect, amid the same old leadership in civil aviation.

The fact that the VIP lounge is in disarray indicates government has no sense of responsibility in this regard, Al-Fadhala recounted.

He vowed to coordinate with his parliamentary colleagues to set up a mechanism that may lead to closure of the VIP lounge in the airport to force those using the lounge to go through the public terminal in order to know what common citizens experience at the airport.

Furthermore, MP Khalil Al-Saleh says there are regulations for naturalizing non-Kuwaiti women who are married to Kuwaitis, affirming that he stands with the regulations that organize the granting of citizenship based on article No. 8, reports Al-Qabas daily.

“However, despite my support for naturalizing widows and divorcees in case they did not receive citizenship during their marital life, such naturalization should be in line with the regulations”, he stressed