Ministry finds 16 violations in second week donations
KUWAIT CITY, March 28: Inspection teams from the Ministry of Social Affairs uncovered 16 violations of regulations on collecting donations in the second week of the holy month of Ramadan alone, reports Al-Seyassah daily quoting sources.
Sources revealed these violations include collecting donations without a license and publishing donation advertisements on social media for a number of people and entities. All those proven to have committed violations were referred to the Public Prosecution.
Sources affirmed the ministry is implementing the ‘zero tolerance’ policy in arresting those who collect donations without obtaining a license, stressing that it is prohibited to collect cash donations.
Sources added the inspection teams also discovered 29 violations in the mosques; such as publishing advertisements to collect donations for Iftar, implementing charitable projects without a license, and failure to follow the schedule for the collection of donations in mosques. Sources said the ministry has asked its Endowments and Islamic Affairs counterpart to take the necessary measures.
Sources stated that two volunteer groups were also found to be calling for collecting donations for Iftar and charitable projects without a license. The inspection teams contacted the Community Development Department in the Ministry of Social Affairs to take action.
Sources went on to say that the inspection teams carried out 597 field visits to mosques and 44 to the headquarters of charitable organizations, and checked 39 kiosks for collecting clothes -- 21 of which were removed due to violations.
Sources added the inspection teams checked 28 restaurants, five commercial companies and a central market; urging the owners and those in charge of these establishments to refrain from collecting donations through social media. Sources confirmed the Ministry of Commerce and Industry has been asked to take the necessary measures in this regard.
Meanwhile, proceeds of the second day of Al-Gharameen campaign – launched by the Ministry of Social Affairs in cooperation with the ministries of Justice, Information, Endowments and Islamic Affairs, and the Consumer Cooperative Societies Union and the Union of Charitable Societies and Charities – reached more than KD467,000 from 5,168 donors, reports Al-Anba daily.
A source from the Ministry of Social Affairs stated that the ministry will issue a detailed weekly report on the results of the campaign. The source affirmed that the files of the debtors are ready in the Judgments Implementation Department. Once the campaign concludes at the end of the holy month of Ramadan, the work mechanism and the beneficiaries will be established by the special committee tasked to supervise the campaign. The committee consists of the representatives of the concerned authorities, the source added.