New system eyed to curtail ‘forgery’

KUWAIT CITY, April 21: MPs Badr Al-Humaidi, Abdullah Al-Turaiji, Osama Al-Menawer, Badr Al-Mullah and Mehalhal Al-Mudhaf have submitted a bill on the establishment of a central system for citizenship affairs that will be under the Ministry of Interior to stop the forgery and manipulation of naturalization applications.

The proposed entity will also receive and assess citizenship applications.

On the other hand, MP Badr AlMullah asked Minister of Foreign Affairs Sheikh Dr Ahmad Nasser Al-Muhammad about the suspension of signing contracts with insurance companies to provide health insurance for the workers.

He requested for copies of health insurance contracts that the ministry signed in the last five years. He wants to know the amount paid to these insurance companies and cost of the overseas treatment of workers since the health insurance contracts were suspended.

He also forwarded queries to Minister of Education and Higher Education Dr Ali Al-Mudaf on why the Ministry of Higher Education did not publish any scholarship advertisement for the current academic year. He pointed out the scholarship program was not suspended during the Covid-19 crisis, inquiring if the lack of scholarships this year will negatively affect the Kuwaiti students who obtained scholarships for master’s degree courses in other countries.

In addition, he asked Minister of Justice Talal Al-Jalawi why Al-Diyar United Company is getting most of the tenders floated by public institutions like the Public Authority for Applied Education and Training (PAAET), Zakat House, Kuwait National Petroleum Corporation (KNPC), Kuwait University and Public Authority for Civil Information (PACI).

He inquired if the Central Agency for Public Tenders (CAPT) revised the criteria for obtaining tenders to ensure the abovementioned company does not monopolize the process.