Expats focus of MP jobs ire
KUWAIT CITY, May 13: Items on the agenda of the parliamentary session slated for Tuesday includes the 54th report of the Legislative and Legal Affairs Committee on the proposed amendment of law number 31/1970 amending certain provisions of Penal Code number 16/1960.
Article One of the bill stipulates adding a paragraph to Article Four and a new article (four-repeated) to law number 31/1970 as follows:
Last paragraph of Article Four: Opinions and statements are not hostile.
Article Four (repeated): Fine of not less than KD 3,000 and not more than KD 6,000 shall be imposed on anyone who uses print, video or audio media, or any technical means, for publicity, publishing incorrect news about heads of friendly nations in order to harm or
demean them, harm Kuwait’s political relations and threaten the supreme interests of the country.
If the same crime is repeated within five years, the punishment will be imprisonment for a period not exceeding three months and fine of not more than KD 10,000 or one of these penalties.
The Parliament will also discuss nine letters, the most important of which are about the request to extend the work of the Women and Family Affairs Committee until the end of the current session to complete its report on housing issues and referral of the proposal on domestic violence to the Legislative Affairs Committee.
This is in addition to a letter from the Women and Family Affairs Committee chairperson requesting referral of the bill on the protection of women from abuse and domestic violence, which is currently in the agenda of the Legislative and Legal Affairs Committee, to the Women and Family Affairs Committee pursuant to Article 99 of the Procedure Rules.
The agenda also consists of a letter from MP Mohammed Al-Dalal requesting investigation into the illegal practices of representatives of the Embassy of the Republic of the Philippines, listen to the government’s opinion on this matter, refer the issue to the Interior, Defense and Foreign Affairs committees, and schedule an open session to discuss the problems of domestic workers and the role of government in addressing such problems.
In another development, MP Safa’a Al-Hashem has called on the government to replace expatriate employees in various State institutions with Kuwaitis.
She pointed out the expatriate employees in these institutions are the ones identifying the needs of ministries for supervisors according to the replies of ministers to the questions of MPs.
She also wondered why Kuwaitis were not appointed in the oil sector, asking if the government wants the lawmakers to bargain with it before citizens are employed in this sector.
She added the state minister for Cabinet Affairs has confirmed there are 4,365 vacant positions in different ministries, so why not appoint citizens?