Assembly to discuss coronavirus issues; banks allowed to reopen
KPC to set up treatment halls at Mishref fairgrounds
KUWAIT: The National Assembly has decided to resume its sessions on June 16 and 17 to debate a raft of issues related to the coronavirus crisis and its economic consequences, Speaker Marzouk AlGhanem said yesterday. He said that the sessions could extend until June 18 if needed, adding that at the start of the June 16 session, the Assembly will have an open debate on the government’s performance during the crisis.
The Assembly has held only one session since late February because of the coronavirus shutdowns. Ghanem said the Assembly is also due to debate a grilling filed by MP Faisal Al-Kandari against Education Minister Saud Al-Harbi for not ending the school year and allegedly endangering the lives of students and the teaching staff.
The speaker said the Assembly will first debate issues related to the coronavirus before debating the grilling. The government has already expressed total solidarity with the education minister. Among the draft laws expected to be debated during the session is legislation allowing private sector establishments impacted by the coronavirus closures to reduce salaries of employees.
The government has introduced a few changes to the original legislation. Under the new format, private sector employers affected by the coronavirus can send their employees on annual leave with reduced salary but not less than the minimum wage. Such establishments can also reduce the salaries of their employees by up to 50 percent in agreement with the employees during a certain period to be defined by the Cabinet.
Such amendments to the labor law in the private sector are temporary and will become ineffective once the coronavirus impact ends. The whole process will be closely regulated by the Council of Ministers.
Ahead of the assembly session, the financial and economic affairs committee will hold an expanded meeting on Sunday to discuss a number of draft laws related to the economic impacts of the coronavirus. MPs have said they are preparing legislation to exempt small and medium businesses from paying rent for a few months, while landlords will be allowed to access easy-term funding from banks.
The Council of Ministers on Monday decided to allow banks to reopen to serve customers from yesterday, government spokesman Tareq Al-Mazrem told a press conference. Mazrem also said that all activities that were open before the total lockdown which began on May 10 and ended on Sunday can also resume work as usual.
The banking association immediately announced that bank branches that operated before May 10 will reopen to serve customers daily from 9 am until 1 pm.
Mazrem said that the Cabinet also assigned Kuwait Petroleum Corp (KPC) to set up three medical halls at the fairground in Meshref for the treatment of coronavirus cases. He said the Cabinet emphasized that the plan to return to normal life, which the government launched two days ago in five phases, is conditional to people observing health guidelines announced by the ministry of health,
especially social distancing.
The Cabinet also asked the Central Agency for Information Technology to establish a special platform that would manage people’s visits to government departments when they reopen to ensure social distancing. Mazrem reiterated that isolating a number of residential areas was entirely based on health considerations and to ensure the safety of people.
The National Democratic Alliance meanwhile criticized the government for hiding the names of influential people allegedly implicated in high-profile money laundering and corruption cases related to the Malaysian sovereign fund and illicit activities in North Korea. The government has already referred the issue to the public prosecution for criminal investigations, but the alliance said the government has continued to hide the main names in the issue, accusing the government move of lacking transparency.