Speaker rebuts accusations tied to ‘special payments’
‘Common practice since 1992’
KUWAIT CITY, Oct 2: National Assembly Speaker Marzouq Al-Ghanim rejected accusations hurled at MPs in relation to the Extraordinary Pension Law that has been in effect since the 1992 Assembly.
In a press conference Monday, Al-Ghanim disclosed he has never verified if this pension is constitutional or not. He was quick to add though that he has own opinion on this issue and it is his responsibility as Speaker to clarify circumstances surrounding the subject.
“I speak with absolute neutrality because I have not benefited from this privilege since I entered the Assembly. I do not accept any injustice done by my colleagues who may have benefited from this privilege,” Al-Ghanim said.
He then gave a chronological presentation of all laws stipulating privileges for the Assembly. He said law number 4/1963 states that each member of the Assembly shall receive KD 300 at the end of each month throughout the year. This article also states that “it is not permissible to combine the reward of the Speaker and his deputy with the pension any of them is entitled to receive.” In other words, the bonus started at KD 300 and the law prohibits the Speaker and his deputy from combining the bonus and the pension. He added the second amendment of the benefits of MPs was done through law number 1/1971 which raised the bonus to KD 1,000. This amendment was implemented from the 1975 Assembly, as Article 119 of the Constitution says any amendment to the bonus should be applied in the next legislative term because it is not permissible for the current Assembly to legislate the bonus for itself. The amendment approved by the 1971 Assembly states it is not permissible to combine the bonus of the Speaker and his deputy with their pension. Decree number 101/1980 raised the Speaker’s bonus to be similar to the salary of a minister and all his allowances; thereby, increasing it to KD 1,600 and that of his deputy increased to KD 800.
He went on to narrate that in the 1981 Assembly, or precisely in 1983, the pension for MPs was approved as per the proposal submitted by Hamoud Al-Roumi, Khalid Sultan bin Isa, Ahmad Al-Taqeem, Yousef Al-Shaheen and Abdul Razak Al-Sanea. Article Two of the bill states that the Speaker, deputy Speaker and members of the Assembly shall, at the end of membership, receive monthly pension in accordance with the provisions of this chapter. The preceding paragraph shall apply to Speakers, deputy Speakers, members of the previous Constituent Assembly and the Parliament and the difference shall be calculated retroactively.
He revealed the controversy surfaced during the discussion of the bill because of differences in the views of MPs. The Minister of Justice then argued that the MP cannot legislate for himself and since the law was issued retroactively, the Parliament members shall benefit from the law while others interpreted Article 119 of the Constitution as referring to the bonus, not the pension mentioned in the new law.
Rejected
Members who rejected the bill included the late speaker Jassem Al-Kharafi, Mohammad Al-Rashid, Faisal Al-Duwaish and Mutlaq AlShulaimi and those who abstained were Mubarak Al-Dabbous, Mushari Al-Anjari and Mohammad AlAdsani.
In the 1992 Parliament, the salary was increased to KD 1,000 for the members and the first decision that the legislature issued in response to the request of a group of MPs was to grant extraordinary pension of KD 650 to each MPs as of Oct 20, 1992; hence, the extraordinary pension has been granted from 1992 and it was not created by the 2016 Parliament as some have claimed.
The same Parliament witnessed the ratification of law number 19/1996 whose first article states that “the Speaker, deputy Speaker and members shall combine the bonus and pension.” This amendment no longer prohibits the Speaker and his deputy from getting the pension.
The second article of the law stipulates “restitution of pension for the Speakers and deputy Speakers and members of the previous Constituent Assembly and the Parliament to be similar to the salary of the minister subject to insurance on the date the law takes effect and other allowances, increasing the bonus to KD 2,300.
Since 1992, the Speaker has been asking the Council of Ministers about those who requested exceptional pension according to the law. Former speakers Ahmad Al-Saadoun and the late Jassem Al-Kharafi handed over records of such privileges to the incumbent Speaker.
According to Al-Ghanim, Mashari Al-Osaimi, Riyadh Al-Adsani and Waleed Al-Jarei requested for removal of their names from the request for exceptional pension during their time at the Assembly.
He reiterated the disbursement of exceptional pension has been continuing for more than a quarter of a century; thus, there is no truth in the allegation that the 2016 Assembly created it.
Asked if the KD 2,300 salary of a lawmaker is enough, Al-Ghanim said this is an estimate and the opinion on whether this amount is enough or not varies from one person to another.
He stressed that every MP has the right to resort to the judiciary after being questioned on their benefits due to the special pension issue. He added a group of MPs have submitted a parliamentary request regarding the extraordinary pension issue to the Supreme Constitutional Court for interpretation.
Meanwhile, MP Abdullah Fahad Al-Anazi has forwarded questions to State Minister for Cabinet Affairs Sheikh Mohammed Al-Abdullah AlSabah about the Central System for Remedying the Status of Illegal Residents (CSRSIR).
He pointed out the CSRSIR was established as per decree number 467 issued on Nov 9, 2010 to replace the Executive Committee for Illegal Residents. Therefore, he wants to know what documents were used as basis for amending the status of Bedouns, number of individuals per nationality whose status has been amended based on these documents, if there has been correction to the nationality of some who have been granted a security card, reasons for taking this measure, if everyone who holds the same documents has had their status amended, and other relevant information.