‘Visa traders milking the cow’

‘Menial workers spread coronavirus’

“THE topic of residence traffickers at the moment is the talk of the hour. This topic is being discussed by all segments of Kuwaitis in the social media, during meetings and mutual discussions,” columnist and attorney Riyadh Al-Sanea’a wrote for Annahar daily.

“As a matter of fact, the residence trafficking is a ticking time bomb. I had personally warned of the danger of trafficking in visas through many articles and today we have to face this reality.

“In this context, we elucidate the crises have exposed the defects and uncovered nationalism because loyalty to the homeland should be real and not for decoration.

“These days we see how the visa traders have harmed the country and humanity. The violations have touched the depth of humanity and this means this issue is far beyond the greed of the fake companies who have brought into the country thousands of workers after winning big tenders or huge projects and forced each worker to pay money to double their profits in addition to the money earned from the government through the tenders.

“It is no secret that after winning the tenders the contractors in most cases hire a sub-contractor to carry out the work.

“The greediness and the behavior of some people is a replica of a person who is milking the cow. Not just that, these people feel their behavior will not cause any embarrassment or that they don’t shoulder any responsibility towards the community.

“Their behavior is responsible for ‘dumping’ on the streets of Kuwait thousands of menial workers who live in pitiable conditions most of whom are daily wage workers and work in inhuman conditions. At the time when the coronavirus (COVID-19) hit the country this resulted in the threat to the country’s social scale, food and health security because the manpower which was brought into the country by fake companies currently constitute a threat to the population equation.

“And because the circumstances of this type of manpower are not stable, they are likely to resort to commit crimes to secure their daily requirements or to take revenge on the community as well as individuals who are responsible for their hardships.

“The presence of a big number of menial workers in the country put pressure on the food security and medical services. In this context, we have observed that the coronavirus (COVID-19) cases that were recorded during the past couple of days are among menial workers because they live in an infectious environment and this can be attributed to the absence of serious decision to deal with the visa traffickers.

“However, this happens although Kuwait has endorsed many laws, decisions and regulations to organize commercial work in the country and requirements of foreign manpower. This is in addition to other laws to punish violators of laws and human traffickers with imprisonment and even death.

“In spite of the above legislations, we see practices related to bringing extra manpower into the country continues although this manpower will not serve the interest of the country, they rather serve only the narrow interests of individuals and the relevant traffickers.

“Today, we are at the threshold of a humanitarian, security, food and health disaster and we all agree that the main cause are the visa traders and the concerned authorities which have closed their eyes and silence of the consecutive governments. This phenomenon has helped breed various types of crimes.

“In other words, the residence traffickers are responsible for the increasing cases of the corona epidemic. Such being the case, today we are at the crossroads and this means we must resort to firm actions that may be required to deal the visa traffickers or ignore the problem and this shall result in a state of turmoil, given the fact we are a small country which will not be able to endure this big number of unproductive manpower.

“In the meantime, we suggest prior the deportation of this manpower for humanitarian reasons, they should be compensated by the merchants who had brought them into the country and refer these merchants to trial and condemn their false nationalism.

“It is needless to say the world needs social and humanitarian cohesion, not people who are dealing with their homeland as a milking cow for the sake of a handful of dinars to increase their wealth illegally and destroy the country.

“Almighty Allah, I have advised and you are the witness.”

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Al-Sanea’a

“The humanitarian catastrophe that has befallen tens of thousands, or rather hundreds of thousands of the menial expatriates workers are victims of visa traders and the owners of companies who have violated their legal and moral duties and this is now evident because they reject to help the workers who are under their sponsorship,” columnist Zayed Al-Zaid wrote for Annahar daily.

“However, this, has resulted in a significant argument over the need to punish the visa traders and end their illegal practices, because their practices have destroyed the country’s population structure and put at risk the security, social, economic and even political future of the country.

“For the time being, we have observed how the residence traffickers are being attacked and there is a popular opinion that the government must punish the visa traffickers and this demand is good, and a duty because these traffickers seem not to fear Almighty God in addition to working against the homeland and the citizens simultaneously. Moreover, they deal with the expatriates as slaves by involving in human trade replicating ancient times.

“It is needless to say the visa traffickers should be held accountable not only for this illegal trade, but also those who have facilitated their illegal business by allowing them to sponsor thousands of workers through wasta (favoritism) bribe or illegally helping them and as such they too should also be strictly punished.

“We say the above, because fighting the crimes without conducting necessary investigation with those who have given them the facilities and signed the documents to bring in the manpower illegally under their sponsorship is a manipulation of the procedures that have been set up to fight the crime.

“Such being the case, we request the government to bring all residence traffickers to book who were involved in bringing thousands of workers into the country on annual basis without exception and this is applicable to those who were involved in facilitating their illegal business – officials working for State ministries – and expose them and inform the public that these officials were accomplices of visa traffickers because they had been negligent in their work or deliberately colluded with the traffickers for personal benefits.”

“Heavy rains hit India last fall, which was unusual in that season. The rain destroyed the onion crop in North and Central India. Then, humidity damaged a third of the crop in warehouses. Therefore, an acute shortage of onion ensued and prices in the markets of India increased remarkably. The government decided to stop exporting onion, so the price became affordable for the ordinary Indian citizen, columnist Ahmad Al-Dawwas wrote for Al-Seyassah daily.

“We do not underestimate this event or make fun of this crop, not even in this article, because the agricultural crop in India could overthrow senior politicians or re-elect them as State officials.

“The onion is an important food item for poor Indian families. They eat it with bread, so it becomes a meal, but the important thing is that its production is in a political region where incumbent Prime Minister Narendra Modi was born, and in which the Bharatiya Janata Party has influence.

“Indian governments have fallen because of the onion. Prime Minister Modi is currently facing increasing economic problems and fears losing his political position. When his government decided to prevent the export of onions, its price decreased. This raised the satisfaction of citizens and will make them vote for Prime Minister Modi and his party in the upcoming elections.

“The areas with onions are important regions during elections, but if the price increases, then thieves and gangs will be active to get it. This incites discontent and resentment of the people who blame the government, which may not be re-elected. The fate of Indian politicians has become dependent on the price of the crop, so Modi and his advisers politicized it and made it the center of their attention for political gain and election victory.

“What happened in India after the rains and the damage to the agricultural crop led to the disappearance of onions imported from India in the Kuwaiti market, but the local farmers’ committee promised to provide local consumers with onions from other countries.”

“The Corona crisis has revealed the two sides of the same coin and given the government a big opportunity that summarizes the experience during emergency situations and during crises, and benefiting from it how to deal quickly and safely during crises. Thankfully, in this regard, the government done a good job in managing the crises,” columnist Hassan Al-Haddad wrote for Al-Anba daily.

“One of the negativity that is seen in the country is the bulk employment, which is still a victim of residence traders who have wreaked havoc in the country. According to a media report many victims of visa traders are suffering because of the fictitious companies and their sponsors, who receive money ranging between 1,000 and 1,500 dinars in exchange one work visa.

“This category of workers is difficult to deal with during crises due to the large number of them, which has put a great burden on the state services and facilities in all its forms and the cost may be exorbitant and exceed the allocated budgets.

“This issue is not a result of the corona crisis, but an issue that has been at the forefront of the most sensitive and pending issues for a long time, but there are those who do not want to solve it because they are benefiting from this chaos.

“The question is why the MPs in the National Assembly deal with this chronic issue instead of running after grilling over some trivial issues while others are no better than paper tigers when it comes to solving the issues facing the nation including the visa traders. Does all this silence make sense?”

“I would like to remind some members of the National Assembly who are heroes in the social media that they have the constitutional tools at their disposal and have the ability to solve many such issues.”

“Without a doubt, creative ideas save governmental authorities a lot of trouble in their work ... These ideas contribute to putting effective solutions to all the problems that the country is witnessing in the current period, in conjunction with the spread of the coronavirus,” columnist Abdulrahman Al-Awwad wrote for Al-Sabah daily.

“Examples of creative and impressive ideas are the decisions of Minister of Commerce Khaled Al-Roudhan during the corona crisis, the most recent of which were the closure of the vegetables and sheep markets, and the provision of such items to cooperative societies.

“These decisions hit two birds with one stone, through which the chances for gatherings are reduced and the application of social distancing strategy that stops the spread of infection. This is in addition to rationalization of goods and food, so that every person takes only what he needs and does not put pressure on the food stock.

“Also among the great ideas of young minister Al-Roudhan is fixing commodity prices with a list issued by the Ministry of Commerce to prevent price manipulation and commercial fraud that prevailed in the previous period when some sellers were selling food at exaggerated prices to take advantage of the crisis.

“Protection of public interest, particularly the consumers, during the crisis was achieved through a creative and distinct idea. With such ideas, all government agencies can solve the thousands of problems they face in their work.”

“For the country to become a civil State in the full sense of the word, it should not only be satisfied with setting regulations and laws. Laws do not automatically apply themselves. They remain non-binding as long as they are ink on paper, hence, the country cannot be described as a civil State,” columnist Waleed Al-Rujaib wrote for Al-Rai daily.

“If the Constitution and laws do not organize the State and society, we can describe it as a pre-State system managed through the blessing and influence of individuals and groups or ‘wasta’.

“The State and government administration in Kuwait have gone through decades of waste and the absence of strategies and plans.

“The State did not impose its modern civil authority, that is, the imposition of constitutional order and citizenship, and the obligation to implement the articles of the Constitution, not to empty it of its content by enacting laws that contradict its purposes or essence.

“Therefore, many people see that the State now is not the same as it was at the beginning of independence and establishment, and the start of the project to build a modern civil State. However, chaos is the address of traffic, education imposes its curricula on a certain stream in society, government departments are overwhelmed by employees who do not produce, and transactions in all departments do not keep pace with the times.

“Moreover, corruption is getting more and more prevalent until it becomes a method and phenomenon. Culture is no longer part of what characterizes Kuwait and it has been affected by neglect and marginalization.”

— Compiled by Zaki Taleb