Medical tests to be done on MPs, NA staff a day before 1st session
Panel discusses purchase decree with SMEs reps
By Saeed Mahmoud Saleh
Arab Times Staff
KUWAIT CITY, July 30: National Assembly Speaker Marzouq AlGhanim said the Assembly Office set the dates for the upcoming sessions – Aug 4 and 5, 2020.
He affirmed that the health preparations for these sessions will be done in coordination with the Ministry of Health, indicating samples will be taken from the employees and MPs who will attend the meeting on Monday – a day before the first session scheduled for next week. He clarified Monday is a holiday on the occasion of Eid Al-Adha, so he urged the employees and MPs to come to the Assembly building on that day for testing.
He hinted on the possibility of another session on Thursday if needed and if the Assembly decides to do so. He added he will give an update on schedule of the session in his press conference slated for Wednesday.
Decree
Meanwhile, Chairman of the Business Environment Improvement Committee MP Yousef AlFadalah confirmed that the committee met the representatives of the National Fund for Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs) on Tuesday. They discussed the purchase decree, disclosing that representatives of the fund affirmed the decree has been completed and referred to Minister of Finance Barrak Al-Shitan for approval.
He called on Al-Shitan to quickly approve the decree due to its importance in developing the SMEs and in giving them the opportunity to benefit from the purchase orders of different institutions and ministries.
He added the representatives of the fund also informed the committee that the register which includes the SMEs has been edited and the registration criteria have been specified. He encouraged those who think their businesses are classified as SMEs to register in the fund in order to benefit from the privileges offered by the fund.
He said the representatives of the fund asked for more time to study the other recommendations of the committee, indicating the upcoming meetings will focus on the vital recommendations.
In addition, MP Abdullah Al
Romi unveiled his plan to submit a proposal for the government to present a detailed report on the decision to withhold the 1Malaysia Development Berhad (1MDB) lawsuit in 2018 during the upcoming session.
He pointed out the Parliament wants to know who withheld the lawsuit under the pretext that no crime was found. The lawsuit was filed in 2018 in response to the request of the Malaysian government at the time.
On the other hand, MP Safa’a Al-Hashem submitted a bill on adding an article to Penal Code No. 16/1960.
The bill is aimed at toughening penalties on those involved in family violence crimes, particularly the crimes against children and women. It stipulates that the penalties in articles 160, 161, 162, 163 and 164 should be doubled in case the convicted is the victim’s husband, ex-husband, fiancé, brother, custodian or guardian. The penalties are doubled as well
if the victim is a minor, elderly or mentally challenged. The crimes include physical attack, causing injury and permanent or minor disability.
Immunity
Moreover, MP Abdullah AlKandari clarified that once 30 days pass by after the request of the Public Prosecution to lift the immunity of a number of MPs on June 28, 2020; the immunity is automatically dropped as per Article 111 of the Constitution and Article 20 of the Assembly Decree because the Assembly failed to take a decision in this regard within the grace period (30 days). He pointed out that the immunity of former MP Faisal Al-Musallam was dropped in 2010 the same manner.
In another development, AlKandari forwarded queries to Minister of Finance Barrak AlShitan about the tender of Touristic Enterprises Company (TEC) for health clubs to usufruct site N1 which is currently occupied by Corniche Health Club. He wants
to know if the committee tasked to investigate violations in the bidding has completed its work, if the representative of the concerned ministry strictly followed the regulations on opening the envelopes containing the offers or not, if the representative made sure that the information submitted by the bidding companies are correct, if the company which won the bid asked for extending the provided space in violation of Article 10 of the relevant contract, if TEC approved the request, legal basis of the approval, name of the official who signed the contract with the winning company, language used in the bidding documents, if Cabinet Decision No. 10/1988 was considered or not, if the winning company provided the documents which prove it met the criteria including the years of experience, and if the head of the fact finding committee sent an e-mail to the German Embassy to verify the information provided by the winning company.