Panel cancels meeting set to discuss decree on ‘oil’, related to MoF, KNPC
MP Al-Ardi queries about revenues
KUWAIT CITY, March 4: The parliamentary Budgets and Final Accounts Committee cancelled its meeting slated for Thursday to discuss the decree on oil exploration and production concerning the Finance Ministry and Kuwait National Petroleum Corporation (KNPC) due to the absence of the relevant ministers.
Rapporteur of the committee MP Badr Al-Dahoum disclosed the concerned ministers did not attend the meeting under the pretext that the new government has yet to take the constitutional oath at the National Assembly. He said this is not a valid excuse and it contravenes the Constitution, considering the new government already took its oath in front of His Highness the Amir Sheikh Nawaf Al-Ahmad Al-Jaber Al-Sabah; hence, it can now perform its executive duties. He clarified the new government’s oath taking at the Assembly is for the ministers to start working in Abdullah Al-Salem Hall as members of the legislature.
Meeting
He unveiled the committee’s plan to invite HH the Prime Minister Sheikh Sabah Al-Khalid and the concerned ministers to its meeting on Wednesday to discuss the budget deficit which, according to the committee, is non-existent. He pointed out that some public institutions have retained revenues amounting to billions of Kuwaiti dinars, stressing the government does not need to resort to borrowing or withdrawing from the Future Generations Fund if these revenues are handed over to the Ministry of Finance.
In addition, MP Khalil Al-Saleh stressed the need for the new government to strictly comply with the directive of Highness the Amir on easing the suffering of citizens. He said the Assembly will not approve the proposal of the government to withdraw KD
5 billion from the Future Generations Fund every year. He criticized the statement of Minister of Finance and Minister of State for Economic and Investment Affairs Khalifa Hamada that the existing cash is not enough to pay the salaries for
April 2021. He argued that if this is true, it is not the problem of citizens as it is the responsibility of the government.
He also emphasized the need to assign an independent institution which will determine how the money requested by the government is spent.
Bill
On the other hand, MP Abdullah AlTuraiji submitted a bill to amend National Assembly Election Law number 42/2006 in order to implement the one-man-threevotes system. The bill stipulates dividing the country into five constituencies and each constituency nominates 10 MPs, while every voter has the right to vote for two candidates in his own constituency and a candidate in any other constituency. Therefore, every voter will be given two ballots – one for the two candidates in his own constituency and the other for the candidate in another constituency.
MP Saad Al-Khanfour proposed allowing citizens to establish diwaniyas next to or in front of their houses provided they pay the annual rent and obtain a permit from Kuwait Municipality. He said most of households consist of several families and their houses are not big enough to allot a portion of their properties for the construction of diwaniyas.
Furthermore, MP Musaed Al-Ardi forwarded queries to Minister of Finance and Minister of State for Economic and Investment Affairs Khalifa Hamada about the revenues retained by various public institutions in the last five years, revenues handed over to the Finance Ministry within the same period, surplus that these institutions retained and put in local banks and investment companies, amount of interest earned from these investments, and if the ministry has a plan to collect the retained revenues or not.
MP Thamer Al-Suwait asked the same minister about the current value of the Future Generations Fund. He requested for a financial statement detailing the amount deducted from the national revenues for the fund every year starting from the date of its establishment as per decree number 106/1976, in addition to the amount withdrawn from the fund and details of withdrawals.