‘Corruption, less concern leads to public money drain & deficit’
MP threatens to grill PM
Several employees of the Ministry of Electricity and Water (MEW) held a sitin at the headquarters of the ministry to protest against the suspension of travel allowance for employees working in distant areas and exclusion of the allowance from the salary certificate.
The sit-in was attended by several MPs and board members of the labor union for employees working in the ministry in solidarity with the employees affected by the decision.
In response, the Minister of Electricity, Water and Oil, Essam Al-Marzouq issued direct order to reinstate the travel allowance.
He also instructed the reinstatement should be mentioned in the salary certificate as observed earlier.
By Abubakar A. Ibrahim
Arab Times Staff
KUWAIT CITY, April 4: MP Riyadh Al-Adsani has threatened to grill HH the Prime Minister, before the ruling of the Constitutional Court, if he does not address the issue of what he called ‘waste of public money’ and apply the policy of job replacement.
He noted corruption and lack of concern are major factors which lead to drain of public money and budget deficit. He stressed the financial standing of the nation has reached a critical point and that it is high time for the government to diversify its sources of income.
He says, unlike for parliaments the current National Assembly stands will refuse to be the rubber stamp but will want to have its share in the decision-making process with the government on the issue of reforms. He disclosed the state revenue last year was estimated at KD 12 billion and the deficit KD 1.8 billion. He added, revenue from oil was approximately KD 11 billion and from non-oil KD 1 billion, but corruption and apathy has led to budget crisis.
In the meantime, MP Marzouk Al-Khalifa has presented a bill to grant bedoun civil and legal rights including permanent residency, free education and medical care and a right to own real estate.
In the explanatory memo, the lawmaker noted the Kuwaiti Constitution in Article 29 states all people are equal in human dignity and in public rights and duties before the law, without distinction to race, origin, language, or religion. He said the most significant challenges we face today are in the area of human rights either from its legal, or moral or civil perspective including the living conditions and the suffering of bedoun who are known as the ‘stateless people’. This category includes tens of thousands of people who are genetically inherited to their Kuwait home, father and grandfather and born on its territory and buried in its land. These are the people who have served the nation in various ways and who had been entrusted with the security of the homeland. They have shed blood for the sake of the nation and strengthened the social fabric among husbands, wives, mothers and children through continuous chronology from the fourth and fifth generations.
He added this right is indispensable in accordance with the agreements and international treaties signed by the State of Kuwait, Okayed by the National Assembly and ratified by His Highness the Amir to become the integral part of the legal system of the State.
In another development the Parliamentary Budgets and Final Accounts Committee approved during its Tuesday meeting the capital expenditure appropriation in the general state budget for the new fiscal 2017/2018 mainly in the construction sector and purchase of machinery. This was announced by Committee Chairman MP Adnan AbdulSamad who said the committee will soon submit the report to the Parliament.
He explained the estimated capital expenditure appropriations for the new fiscal is approximately KD 2.8 billion with the committee’s reservation on the KD 207 million allocated for the Amiri Diwan to support the implementation of some construction projects but not given any future construction projects that do not fall within its jurisdiction. The Kuwaiti Army’s Chief of Staff Lieutenant General Mohammad Al-Khoder met Tuesday with visiting Chairman of the Jordanian Army’s Joint Chiefs of Staff Gen Adnan Al-Qadah. During the meeting, they discussed a number of mutual issues, primarily ways of promoting and bolstering bilateral military relations, the Ministry of Defense said in a press release. Amiri Guard Commander Brigadier Fahad Abdulrahman Al Zaid was present at the meeting.