Panel no to airport medical checks
Entry ban deemed unconstitutional
KUWAIT CITY, Nov 9: The Legislative and Legal Affairs Committee in the Parliament on Thursday rejected a proposal requiring foreigners to undergo medical examination upon arrival at Kuwait International Airport because it interferes with their personal life, it is not limited to a certain category, and the State is not ready for such measures.
Committee Chairman MP Al-Humaidi Al-Subaie disclosed that they also rejected the proposal to ban anyone found guilty of offending God, HH the Amir, wives and companion of Prophet Mohammad (PBUH) from entering the country as it violates Constitution and it does not include other Prophets and Messengers — Peace Be Upon Them.
Meanwhile, MP Riyadh Al-Adsani asserted the Future Generations Fund balance is above excellent; stressing Kuwait’s economy is good while denying the allegation that the country is on the verge of economic downfall.
A few days ago, various media outlets published reports on the supposed loss of a large sum of money from the sovereign fund of the State, but the official authorities denied it in a public statement.
In another development, MP Abdul-Kareem Al-Kandari has presented a bill to regulate financing of electoral campaigns for members of the National Assembly.
He explained that if this bill is approved, it will stop excessive spending on electoral campaigns, widen the scope of transparency in the electoral process and ensure equal opportunities for all candidates.
Moreover, MP Jamaan AlHarbash has forwarded queries to acting Minister of Commerce and Industry Khalid Al-Roudhan about the shares of Zain Telecommunications Company.
Different prices
He wants to know if it is true that Zain sold shares at different prices — 600 fils and 780 fils — within a short period.
Considering Kuwait Investment Authority (KIA) owns 24.6 percent of the shares in Zain, he asked if the authority incurred losses or missed an opportunity to earn profits because of the price disparity.
He inquired as well if there is conflict of interests in this sale and if it is a violation of the Capital Market Authority Law. He pointed out the Capital Market Authority’s objectives include protecting the dealers of securities; regulating securities-related activities in a fair, competitive and transparent manner; implementing full disclosure policy to guarantee justice and transparency; and preventing conflict of interests and exploitation of internal information.
He went on to ask if the Capital Markets Authority fulfilled its obligations according to the law on its establishment and steps taken to realize its objectives.
The Audit Bureau (AB) has called on the government to impose new taxes to increase the non-oil revenues by amending the tax laws to reform the state’s tax system saying an increase in non-oil revenues is the only way to remedy the budget deficit in light of the declining oil prices, reports AlAnba daily.
The Bureau has a set of recommendations to protect public money and address the budget deficit.
1. Changing the fees structure for utilities and public services.
2. Addressing the decline in capital expenditure and also the delay in the implementation of capital and construction projects; limiting the causes of delay in approving the general budget so the government agencies are able to prepare for projects; finding solutions to the administrative obstacles related to implementation and restructuring the documentary cycle.
Capital expenditure
The report said 33 percent of the capital expenditure in the budget for fiscal 2016-2017 which is approximately KD 1.15 billion was not spent for government projects and for all government agencies it was KD 3.4 billion.
The Bureau said the weak performance of the government was due to absence of clear cut plan for follow-up and implementation and internal control which negatively affected the economic growth of the country and was responsible for the continued budget deficit.
3. Addressing the deficiencies in the internal control systems, establishing and activating the administrative dependency for inspection and internal audit offices in government agencies, which helps to reduce the negative impact on the protection of public money.
4. The need to stop the inflation by not registering outstanding sums of money owed to government agencies as ‘under collection’ because this money is about KD 2.3 billion for fiscal 2016/2017.
5. Stop infringements on State property and activate the role of regulatory bodies to follow up the exploitation in this area which is done in improper manner and lead to the loss of public money.
6. Restructuring the mechanism of implementation of contractual terms with government agencies, which deprives the state of millions of dinars as a result of non-follow-up and impose fines for delay and poor implementation. The Bureau has fined the contractors KD 53 million, while millions have been lost due to lack of proper contractual conditions.
7. Unjustly disbursing employees’ salaries, allowances, and bonuses to many government entities subject to debt control because the Bureau noticed KD 44.2 million were unjustly paid during the previous fiscal year.
The Audit Bureau said in its annual report, commenting on the final statement that the budget deficit of the State for fiscal year 2016/2017 was KD 6 billion but was fully covered by withdrawing money from the general reserve.
The state revenues in the final statement for the previous fiscal were KD 13 billion, while expenditure was KD 17.7 billion with a deficit of KD 4.6 billion. The addition of the reserves of future generations was KD 1.3 billion and the deficit in the state budget in the final statement was KD 6 billion.