‘Provide correct, legal way to bring in workers, stop act of trafficking’
“IT IS my sincere wish that the Ministry of Commerce, the Ministry of Health, the Kuwait Municipality, or any other party concerned to prevent the booths that have popped up in the passage ways of malls from spraying perfume and placing incense in the corridors of malls to attract shoppers,” columnist Iqbal Al-Ahmad wrote for Al-Qabas.
“In fact, this causes many health problems for some of those who go to these places, because of allergies, cases of asthma and suffocation to some after inhaling incense and perfumes that are sprayed because of their strong reaction and frequently from time to time I ask those concerned to take this issue with some seriousness because of the complaints of many people and a large group of people suffering from respiratory diseases.
“Moving from this topic, let me come to the growing acts of trafficking of Asian workers as well as Arabs; they work independently, and their residencies are on Kuwaiti sponsors whom they pay either lumpsums even before the worker arrives in Kuwait or for a fixed amount paid to them monthly.
“I got into a discussion with these workers more than once in order to help them, especially after I learned that the money they pay is much more than the income they get for their services and work.
“Can I report these people who traffic in others and their need to work? Am I required to disclose the name of the exploited worker?
“In the midst of all my questions, I stopped at some things, which I found would not lead me to the goal I aspire to.
“These helpless workers often pay huge sums of money beyond their ability to collect after a short period of time until they get the residence permit on someone who only sees them once a month when he receives the money or when renewing the work permit. The payment here is often in cash and not through any bank transfers, which makes it difficult to prove the case, in addition to the state of panic and terror that surrounds everyone I talk to in this regard, for fear that their livelihood will be cut off or that they will be involved in any fabricated case planned by the residence trader.
“I hope that the Integrity Commission or anybody responsible for fighting corruption will find a solution to this issue, which often brings a negative impact on Kuwait due to the exploitation of people’s need for work.
“In light of the directives of the leadership and Prime Minister His Highness Sheikh Ahmed Al-Nawaf Al-Sabah in cleaning up the swamps of corruption, I hope that this issue will take its rightful place in terms of research and investigation, and develop alternative solutions to prevent this type of greedy people from finding an outlet for them to achieve their goals and ambitions, and provide a correct and legal way to bring workers who wish to work independently other than permanent domestic workers.”
Also:
“Al-Seyassah newspaper report published last Thursday about the Kuwait Investment Office in London is serious and alarming. The office is the most important arm of the Investment Authority in the financial world. It is older than the authority itself. It was created in the fifties in the days of the late Abdullah Al-Salem, when things were beautiful in the state, and after the issuance of the General Authority Law For investment, things changed and the office became affiliated with it, then the Iraqi occupation took place, and a number of stars of exploiting opportunities and squandering public money at that time appeared on the surface,” columnist Hassan Al-Issa wrote for Al-Jarida daily.
“A major dispute occurred between the members of the General Investment Authority at the time, and the late Jassem Al-Kharafi was Minister of Finance, and the opinion of the late Prince Jaber Al-Ahmad, after the Minister Al-Kharafi presented the issue to him, was to give priority to the view of the reformist members of the commission, namely the late Yaqoub Al-Humaidhi and Dr. Fahd Al-Rashed and Muhammad Al-Adsani, but the conditions of the occupation prevented matters from being resolved, and after the liberation we ended up with cases of scandals and thefts of investments in Spain, and the hand of justice was not able to control the “thief thieves” who fled before being caught, or after they controlled things, the smart thief is the one who takes advantage of opportunities and he plunders public money, and it does not matter if he is described as a thief or a person with extensive debts, as the political administrations used to lay the red carpet for them, and the temptation to get rich from loose money is irresistible.
“Also, the Kuwait Investment Authority, in turn, was not spared from political interference, nepotism and mistakes, and the Audit Bureau referred to it, including Kuwait incurring heavy taxes as a result of appointing a member of the Mercedes board of directors, and this is contrary to the usual, why... the people of power are more cheap?!
“Now the director of the office, Saleh Al-Atiqi, has been dismissed after his disagreements with a senior Greek official in the office, freezing the latter’s work, and also due to disputes between members of the office and the director. It is the financial climate, the ease of contracting with experts and specialists, and the legal guarantees that Britain provides for the work of the office. If we are unable to take advantage of that advantage and leave matters to be managed with a culture of local political conflicts, what is the meaning of the office staying there?”
“The political scene in Kuwait is heating up, along with the rise in temperature and humidity, as people talk about who will be the next National Assembly speaker,” columnist Talal Al-Saeid wrote for Al-Seyassah daily.
“This talk summed up all our problems that we hope the next Assembly will solve. The heavy legacy left by the dissolved Assembly and the resigned government are summed up in the question: ‘Who will be the next speaker?’
“This has become our main problem with the weakness of memory and deep regret. We have passed through a whole stage called the stage of non-accomplishment by the Assembly and government — both of them in the previous stage or after the last elections. We must remember this well, because a whole stage has passed. The history of our country is unfinished. Before the Assembly, the government was responsible for that.
”For the record, the previous government is the same as the current government with only a simple reshuffling and change in prime minister. This means if there was a sun that would have faded yesterday, there is a little difference!
“The doors of officials are still closed in the faces of Kuwaitis. State employees are still ‘not in the mood’ to work and there has been no achievement. I challenge one citizen to say that he completed his transaction in one day.”
“The gallows (scaffolds) must return to their former glory after the spread of drugs among our youths in an intolerable manner… after the poison dealers went too far and mastered the smuggling of drugs into the country without hearing about the arrest of the snake’s head instead of the tail!” columnist Waleed Al-Ahmad wrote for Al-Rai daily.
“Oh government ... it is unreasonable that the Anti-Drugs Administration receives 120 drug users per week or 10 to 15 daily, a quarter of whom are girls!
“It seems we will witness a new chapter of ‘hit and run’ between the government and those who will enter the corridors of by-elections or ‘consultative’ elections in the coming period, considering they have been in a predicament since the political leadership clearly declared that the act is punishable by law and that leadership will not allow it. This is as if the leadership wants to tell us that the National Assembly was dissolved in accordance with the desire of the public, that is, the conduct of consultations under different names!
“For your information, the Assembly members added a new clause (number five) to Article 45 of General Elections Law number 35 of 1962. This clause stipulates the punishment for ‘anyone who organizes, participates in organizing or calls for by-elections, which are conducted informally before the parliamentary elections to choose one or more candidates from the group or sect!”