Contributions to Iraq questioned
Expats under fire
KUWAIT CITY, Feb 15: The parliamentary Utilities Committee on Thursday rejected the proposed establishment of the Crisis and Disaster Management Public Authority.
Committee Chairman MP Abdullah Fahad explained they consider the formation of new authorities a waste of time and public funds. He said the committee recommended activation of the existing crisis management system instead of forming the authority.
He disclosed the committee decided to invite representatives of competent authorities to its next meeting to discuss the level of their readiness in dealing with disasters.
He also confirmed that the committee received a letter requesting investigation into the agricultural plots which allegedly belong to bogus companies owned by top officials.
On the Municipal Council elections, Fahad explained the committee will work with the government to ensure fair amendment of the Municipal Elections Law to eliminate bias.
Meanwhile, MP Mohammed Hayef has submitted questions to Minister of Social Affairs and Labor and State Minister for Economic Affairs Hind Al-Sabeeh on the contributions of charitable organizations to Iraq.
He wants to know if this is true, and if not, he demanded for the identification of those behind the broadcasting of false information.
In case the organizations have already donated to Iraq, he wants to know if they consulted their general assemblies and donors prior to the donation.
He pointed out a number of Kuwaiti organizations have pledged to donate to Iraq as a result of the conferences for reconstruction of Iraq and humanitarian support for Iraq. He asked if the report on pledges reaching millions of dinars is true. If yes, he wants to know the following:
If any party obligated the organizations to donate to Iraq,
If the general assemblies of these organizations were convened to make such an important decision,
If the donors were allowed to participate in the decision making process,
If the authorities determined the
for disbursement of donations to Iraq.
Furthermore, MP Adel Al-Damkhi sent a letter to Speaker Marzouq AlGhanim urging the latter to instruct the State Audit Bureau to investigate direct contracts of the Ministry of Social Affairs and Labor for social welfare automation, management of the Public Authority for Handicapped Affairs (PAHA) and Public Authority for Manpower (PAM), financial systems of cooperative societies, and automation of the entire ministry.
Al-Seyassah adds:
MP Safaa Al-Hashim continued her attacks on expatriates at Wednesday’s parliamentary session through the discussion of recommendations contained in 26 reports of the parliamentary committees concerning traffic congestion, environmental pollution, fish demise and others, reports Al-Seyassah daily.
Al-Hashim jettisoned deliberation of the parliamentary committee reports on the protection of public funds as regards investigating the sale of companies, shell deal, KGL Company violations, and encroachment on state property. Instead, she focused her contributions on expatriates.
The lawmaker declared that all problems stated in the committee reports were due to the unusual population density. She noted traffic congestion in the country is caused by the abnormal population structure and large number of expatriates compared to citizens.
She continued to describe expatriates as opportunistic bacteria, saying the number of vehicles doubles the population. She reiterated that expatriates have been causing accidents that claim the lives of Kuwaiti children.
She lamented 571,000 driver’s licenses were issued to Kuwaitis compared to 657,000 for expatriates. “Why do the expatriates refuse to use air conditioned public buses and taxis,” she retorted. She cautioned Kuwaitis on eating Al-Oumah, Al-Bayah and Al-Jam fish, because, according to her, they contain high concentration of arsenic poison since they are products of cesspool fishing. She indicated the larger aspects of sea filths are due to dumping of cooking oil from apartments into the drainage system.
Quite the opposite, MP Hamdan AlAzmi expressed regret that many lawmakers who have been clamoring for the withdrawal of driving license from expatriates and rejecting the renewal of driving license for expatriates have not been able to proffer solutions to the traffic congestion, stressing they have nothing to contribute other than the issue of expatriates.
Meanwhile, MP Khalil Abul declared that reports of the committees were extremely significant to the state and society, including families. He stressed that government and the Parliament should devise a mechanism of dealing with them. “What are concerned state institutions doing about the prevalent cases of drug addiction”, he quipped.
He continued “the situation is dangerous if nobody confronts the scenario of government taking the parliament for granted on its absence at committee meetings. The case of the late former MP Falah Al-Sawagh is not the only issue of medical error surfacing, indicating many others patients have lost their life due to medical errors committed by expatriate doctors”.