Lockdown lifted on Jleeb, Mahboula, stays on Farwaniya
Legal panel approves bill setting expat quotas
Two MPs’ immunity lifted
KUWAIT: The council of ministers on Thursday decided to lift a lockdown on Jleeb Al-Shuyoukh and Mahboula residential areas more than 100 days of imposing it to combat the spread of the coronavirus. This means that the lockdown will remain on Farwaniya, the last residential area in isolation.
Government spokesman Tareq Al-Mazrem said the lockdown will be lifted on Thursday, July 9 from 5:00 am, adding that the decision was based on recommendations by the health minister.
Jleeb Al-Shuyoukh and Mahboula , home to over half a million mostly expat workers, were the first two residential areas to be locked down in the country after the virus broke out among low-paid expat laborers residing in the two areas.
The decision was taken despite a jump in the number of coronavirus cases reported over the past 24 hours. The health ministry said 919 cases were reported yesterday compared to 745 cases the previous day. Kuwaitis continued to top the list with a big difference.
In the meantime, the national assembly legal and legislative committee Thursday decided that a draft law submitted by five MPs and proposing a quota system for expatriate communities, was found to be in line with the Kuwaiti constitution and laws.
The committee decided to refer the bill to the concerned committee that will study all legislation on expatriates in the country with the aim to cut their numbers. According to the bill, the largest foreign community in Kuwait, the Indians, must not exceed 15 percent of the Kuwaiti population who currently stand at 1.45 million. If approved, the law would require some 800,000 Indians to leave the country, which is an impossible task by all means.
The legal committee also decided to lift the immunity of two lawmakers suspected to be involved in the corruption scandal allegedly run by a Bangladeshi MP currently detained in Kuwait over the allegations.
The two MPs, Saadoun Hammad and Salah Khorshed said they asked the committee to lift their immunity so they could be interrogated by the public prosecution in order to clear their names, denying that they had anything to do with the scandal.