Grilling motion set for Tuesday session
KUWAIT CITY, July 9: Speaker of the National Assembly Marzouq Al-Ghanim scheduled an ordinary session for Tuesday after consulting the MPs and HH the Prime Minister Sheikh Sabah Al-Khaled.
Al-Ghanim disclosed the agenda for Tuesday’s session include the grilling motion that MP Riyadh AlAdasani submitted against Minister of Finance Barrak Al-Shitan on June 30, 2020.
Meanwhile, Al-Ghanim said he took legal procedures against the Popular Action Bloc for hurling baseless accusations at him in February. He revealed the bloc falsely accused him of involvement in corruption and protecting the corrupt. He pointed out that he is fully aware of the difference between freedom of opinion and hurling false accusations against others. He affirmed support for the freedom of everyone to express their opinion, which is guaranteed by the law and Constitution. He condemned attempts to make his decision to resort to the court as a way of forcing individuals to remain silent. He asserted if they have evidence against him to support their claim that he obtained gains illegally, they should have filed a case against him or called the attention of relevant institutions like Kuwait Anti-Corruption Authority (Nazaha) and Public Prosecution.
In another development, Legislative Affairs Committee Chairman MP Khalid Al-Shatti confirmed that the committee completed its report on the proposed amendment of Penal Code No. 16/1960. He disclosed the bill is aimed at giving mothers the right to sign consent forms for medical procedures and surgeries for their children, similar to the right granted to fathers. He explained this will end the suffering of a large number of individuals, especially in case of a dispute between husband and wife or divorce.
He added the committee also recommended amending the law on organizing medical professions (doctors and dentists) and its report in this regard will be referred to its health and social affairs counterpart in order to study the suggested amendments.
He said the committee finalized its report on the bill about nationalizing public sector jobs, indicating the report consists of several comments which will be referred to the Replacement Committee for further discussion.
On the other hand, Rapporteur of Health and Social Affairs Committee MP Sa’adoun Hammad confirmed that the committee met on Wednesday in the presence of Minister of Social Affairs and State Minister for Economic Affairs Mariam Al-Aqeel and the representatives of concerned institutions like the Public Authority for Manpower (PAM) and Civil Service Commission (CSC), in addition to the head of the campaign entitled “Kuwaitis without Salaries”.
He said Al-Aqeel informed the committee that her ministry will launch an electronic platform for receiving the requests and complaints of citizens who suffered damages due to the lockdown enforced by the government to curb the spread of coronavirus. The minister confirmed that the platform will start functioning within three days and solutions will be presented within one week after the registration of the requests or complaints on the platform. The minister clarified the compensation does not cover the entire lockdown period, as the calculation will start from the date of registering on the platform, he disclosed.
He went on to say that the committee suggested establishing a special fund to pay for the salaries which were suspended from March 12 to June 29.
Furthermore, MP Majed Al-Mutairi forwarded queries to Minister of Oil, Electricity and Water Khalid Al-Fadel about the criteria for nominating employees to senior positions like deputy chief executive officer and chief executive officer at Kuwait Petroleum Corporation (KPC) and its subsidiaries.
He asked about the reshuffling implemented in the last three years, job description of employee number 56089, number of times his employment contract was renewed, reasons for renewal, number of contracts drafted by the employee, if the employee has a rare field of specialization and if any of his first degree relatives are working in any of KPC’s subsidiaries.