‘Unnatural rise in expat numbers’
‘Minister must ring alarm bells’
“PERSONALLY speaking, I am not against expatriates in the country, but certainly I am against my country being transformed into a land for criminals and visa traders, because these people trade in humans,” columnist Saud Al-Samaka wrote for Al-Seyassah daily.
“These criminals motivated by their greed have suffocated the country and this is evident by high rate of the crimes committed by some expatriates.
“In the other words, the population structure of the country has become unbearable because the current rate exceeds many times the country’s accommodation capacity and this negatively reflects on the services the State renders to the citizens, because the increase in the expatriates is unreasonable because the country does not need this big number of expatriates.
“Not just that, the foreign manpower has become repulsive for the citizens in terms of benefiting from the State rendered services and this has resulted in the citizens looking for services offered by the private sector. This will consume a significant part of the citizen’s income.
“In other words, the services founded by the State to serve the citizens have been ‘usurped’ and ‘snatched’ following the unfamiliar increase in the ‘population crucible’.
“It is needless to say nobody can absolutely get rid of the expatriates because the country still needs them, but the skilled and trained manpower, but not flood the country with menial workforce and give them on the job training in our country. We want to tell the visa traders that Kuwait is not an institute to train expatriate workers.
“In this context, we cite a video clip that went viral showing one worker ‘breaking the plate’ in which he was eating and as a result got a cut on his hand and then sarcastically called the Gulf communities backward and uncivilized.
“However, although we in the Gulf states pay no attention to these grudging voices, because we are positive that many of our brothers (honest expatriates) who still live with us have contributed along with us to our nation building and reconstruction and such expatriates are definitely welcome.
“But, we as a community are not ready to be victims for the crimes committed by visa traders and we presume that the State must understand that. In this connection, we say that these traders bring into the country tens of thousands workers who don’t have even the least technical skills and this type of workforce has become a burden on the state rendered services which has negatively affected the ability of these services to cover the requirements of the community.
“Anyway, it is high time to seriously handle this issue because the problem had started taking its toll and now threatens the security and stability of the country on one hand and weaken its ability on the other.
“As a matter of fact, there are a lot of studies and statistics which confirm that the rate of crimes is steadily increasing because of the increase in the number of unskilled workers.
“This happens in spite of the minister of state for economic affairs alleging that this increase is normal. This allegation falls within the framework of political action not technical and this means what the minister said in this regard is unacceptable because this helps fake companies to import menial workers to mint money at the expense of the country.
“The Ministry of Social Affairs and Labor is the official authority that has been empowered to specify the percentage of the manpower required in the country, but this ministry has failed to control the process over the decades.
“In other words, the former ‘Labor’ ministers upon taking the charge began with issuing a statement pledging to control the manpower issue and ending the activity of visa traffickers but the statements have become a trend for media consumption while nothing actually happened on the ground.
“The import of manpower continued unabated because none of the consecutive ministers had the courage to encounter the problem.
“Such being the case, this problem will continue and this is evident through the statement issued by the incumbent minister of state for economic affairs saying the increase in the number of workers is natural.
“But, I would like to tell my sister the minister that this increase is not natural because the expatriate population exceeds half the Kuwaiti population so ‘you are kindly requested to shoulder your responsibility and ring the alarm bell before it is too late while you are issuing political statements’.”
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“The former British prime minister Sir Winston Churchill said ‘there are neither permanent friends nor permanent enemies’ but, there are permanent interests,” columnist Bader Khaled Al-Bahar wrote for Al-Qabas daily.
“The former French president Charles De Gaulle in response to those who attributed the liberation of France from the Nazis by virtue of allies said ‘there is no state having friends... rather having interests only’. In other words, the liberation for France was for the interest of both Europe and America.
“However, based on this idea and in light of the current diminishing role of the Arab League and whereas every state has obtained its interests represented by economic assistance and writing off the debts following the liberation war of Kuwait even that of the traitors.
“Such being the case, we should refrain from paying tribute and not open our borders for menial workforce, particularly since we know that we have paid billions of dollars in the form of assistance in addition to sacrificing our sons during the Arab-Israeli wars. So we have to put a full stop and begin a new sentence.
“I did not intend to write once again on this topic but the statement issued recently by the Minister of Planning, in reference to foreign manpower said ‘I have no problem’.
“In spite of the above, the minister was seemingly implicated while giving some figures related to the foreign manpower in the country because for us they are inaccurate.
“For us we would like to tell the minister that the manpower in general could not be viewed through the government contracts although some of the latter are not free for residence trafficking, particularly since we know that the private sector is currently full of expatriates to such an extent the number of the latter is currently exceeding that of the citizens, let alone that they are constituting a pressure on the State rendered services as well as on the country infrastructures and the public fund, let alone that the foreign menial workforce, had been developed to serve an expatriate manpower.
“The Ministry of Planning is requested to explain to us this accumulation and go through the statistics of foreign manpower and compare the same with the commercial licenses.
“Likewise, the ministry is requested to send its inspectors on a tour of commercial complexes to see the commercial stores full of foreign workers and even small shops established on an area of a few meters are full of these workers.
“However, the other dimension of the danger of the foreign manpower is represented by the latter impact on the community as well as on the national economy and this can be attributed to the ugly dependence that on foreign manpower to such an extent the citizens have exploited the absence of the law and started leasing their commercial licenses and put them in the hands of expatriates to dominate the most vital sectors in the country including the food, public services and medicines – the latter represented by leasing of pharmacies licenses and this is a dangerous indicator.”
“The quantity of drugs seized by customs at Kuwaiti ports and borders is a dangerous indication that drugs are widespread in Kuwait. The country is no longer the re-export center as it has become a popular market for drugs after this disease settled and spread here,” columnist Talal Al-Saeed wrote for Al-Seyassah daily.
“Previously, parents knew that their children consumed alcohol from the smell of their mouths. They discovered and tried to cure it. However, the use of drugs has no odor and not discovered until it is too late. Most families plagued with drug addicts are reluctant and ashamed of handing over the latter to the concerned authorities for fear of other people talking about them. It is noticeable that there is no strong awareness campaign against the spread of drugs. Unfortunately, the State is busy with other issues which may seem important, but the fight against drugs is undoubtedly the most important.
‘Recently, a large quantity of drugs from Syria was discovered in a plastic shipment sent to a Syrian who was arrested and being interrogated.
“It is evident that when a large quantity of narcotics is discovered, other larger quantities have entered Kuwait and were distributed, destroying an entire generation, if not generations.
“The painful truth is that we are not aware of the magnitude of the problem, and do not deal with it properly. There is no awareness campaign to warn on the seriousness of the matter and educate people on the way to deal with addicts at home if any. There is no therapeutic clinic where parents could go to seek treatment for their children addicted to drugs.
“There is only one hospital and once a drug user is admitted, he or she is categorized as an addict. Members of a known expatriate community control everything there, and even trading in drugs. All this has been happening, yet we keep on watching and do nothing.”
“The number of foreigners employed in the government and private sectors, and those begging has been increasing significantly. The latest statistics revealed the entry of 2,200 Arab employees, whose educational attainment is below what is required in Kuwaiti institutions, per month while more than 5,000 unemployed Kuwaitis are waiting for a better job or a job opportunity,” columnist Al-Jazi Al-Senafi wrote for Al-Shahed daily.
“Jobs are no longer confined to anyone. The situation has become total chaos and subject to personal interests, nepotism and favoritism, yet we do not know the reason behind such phenomenon. It is ridiculous that even some security guards hold the title ‘consultants’, thanks to manipulation of procedures.
“Kuwaitis are bewildered and dissatisfied, while foreigners control the most sensitive sectors in the Interior, Foreign Affairs, Justice, Commerce, Information and Education ministries among others. This was evident in the recent fish market auction and manipulation of prices.
“We are not against the expatriates at all, as they are partners in building the nation. We do not disregard the experience of many, but we certainly support the rights of ordinary citizens. In most sisterly countries, we find their citizens in all jobs – mobile taxi drivers, cashiers, tour guides, station workers, truck drivers, car repair workers, etc.
“The Kuwaitization of jobs or replacement is an immediate need this time. The presence of such a large number of foreigners in sensitive sectors pushed citizens on the sidelines. Manipulation of security systems and breaches are now easy as Kuwait has become a refuge for fugitives and outlaws in other countries. The ‘terrorist cell’ which penetrated all systems and settlement of its terrorist members in Kuwait for a long time prove that Kuwait is a safe haven for them.
“The situation has become unbearable as thousands of foreigners are hired every month and citizens wait at least two years to be employed.”
“On Sept 24, 2018, President of the Anti-Corruption Public Authority Counselor Abdulrahman Al-Namash announced that he coordinated and consulted with the National Assembly Speaker on the issuance of the professional code of ethics for members of the Assembly in order to promote the values of integrity, transparency and anti-corruption,” columnist Majid Al-Mutairi wrote for Al-Jarida daily.
“It is worth mentioning here that Kuwait Transparency Society dealt with this issue technically and made it one of its most important priorities in enhancing and reforming the Kuwaiti democratic system. The society organized a seminar titled ‘Integrity of Parliamentary Action – British Experience’ in May 2012 within the Assembly in cooperation with the Legislative Committee. The seminar resulted in the issuance of a primary draft code of ethics. I stressed the need for the Assembly to adopt such a code. It is not subject to postponement, especially since the Constitution consists of a number of provisions about MPs and public employees in order to preserve their integrity.
“The society also proposed a bill on the transparency and integrity of the Assembly. It suggested adding a number of items to the decree on the Assembly.
“The suggestions include preserving parliamentary transparency which means documenting and publishing all information related to parliamentary sessions and parliamentary committees including the results of voting in order to be available for the media, civil society organizations and citizens, as well as to enable them to access the curriculum vitae of MPs and public employees.
“Another suggestion is about the integrity of parliamentary work which represents a set of rules that must be adhered to by MPs, including but not limited to refraining from accepting any donations to be disbursed as financial aid to others.
“The code should stipulate establishing a parliamentary committee for regulation of parliamentary attitude and investigate any form of abuse.”