MP calls for acceleration of citizens’ evacuation process

Parliamentary panel prepares reports on three amendment bills: Al-Shatti

KUWAIT CITY, April 4: MP Sa’adoun Hammad finds the evacuation of citizens from abroad too slow, so he called for acceleration of the evacuation process; quoting the Foreign Affairs Ministry as saying that there are around 60,000 Kuwaitis in various countries.

He wondered why the Ministry of Health previously allowed the entry of 10,000 expatriates to Kuwait

within two days without being checked and without being quarantined.

He argued that citizens should be given priority by facilitating procedures for their return after undergoing the necessary medical checkup.

He also called on the Ministry of Foreign Affairs to instruct the Kuwaiti embassies worldwide to determine the actual number of citizens in each country and then test them for coronavirus. Whoever tests negative should be sent immediately to the airport, while those who are positive must be monitored by the respective embassies until they recover. Reports state that 95 percent of the citizens abroad are not infected with coronavirus. It is necessary to evacuate them quickly; because the longer they stay abroad, the more they are exposed to infection, he added.

He suggested putting ‘smart bracelets’ on the wrists of returning citizens to be sure they stay at home within the specified home quarantine period. He said this procedure is enforced in many countries like Hong Kong and South Korea.

He asserted the decision to prevent citizens from returning home contravenes Article 28 of the Constitution, which stipulates that a citizen should not be barred from returning to Kuwait.

He criticized the decision of the Health Ministry to bury a dead citizen in the country where he died. He said the decision must differentiate between the citizen who dies of coronavirus and the one who dies of other reasons. He said the decision must be applied only to those who died of coronavirus and the corpses of those who died of other causes should be buried in Kuwait.

On the other hand, Chairman of the parliamentary Legislative Affairs Committee MP Khalid Al-Shatti disclosed that the committee met on Thursday, during which they prepared reports on three amendment bills. He affirmed these reports have been referred to the National Assembly for inclusion in its agenda for upcoming sessions.

He said these bills include the amendment of law 17/1960 to allow anyone convicted as per the final verdict of the concerned court to request for retrial in case new evidence is found.

The other bill allows private law offices to certify official documents provided they obtain a permit from the Ministry of Justice.

This is in addition to the bill on organizing legal procedures for a convict who objects to the judge in charge of his case.