Council Chairman confirms Finance Ministry, Municipality conflict report

KUWAIT: Municipal Council Chairman Osama AlOtaibi confirmed a report carried by Arabic daily AlQabas on suspending some municipal procedures related to state property projects, adding that he had discussed the matter with the minister of state for municipal affairs, further noting that a meeting will be held tomorrow in the presence of representatives from relevant ministries. Otaibi expressed hopes that Minister of State for Municipal Affairs Fahd Al-Shulah and Minister of Finance Nayef Al-Hajraf will help resolve the problem due to the revenues state property add to the treasury.

Al-Qabas had reported yesterday that a conflict is in place between the Finance Ministry and Kuwait Municipality over blueprints for state properties the former had requested in order to develop state lands, noting that the lack of a resolution is costing the state an estimated loss of over KD 1 billion.

Otaibi reaffirmed that the state property department had been contacting Kuwait Municipality, requesting certain blueprints without any reply, which had deprived the state treasury from considerable sums of money. “Many issues have been delayed for years, which is unacceptable,” he stressed, noting that the meeting will be dedicated to tackling complications and lack of administrative coordination.

“We know that the municipality is understaffed, but it is unacceptable that some transactions take up to four years to be completed,” he added, pointing out that ignoring incoming correspondence only complicates problems, especially since the state property department wants to sell some of its malls or invest in them according to BOT conditions, which requires certain certificates to be issued by Kuwait Municipality.

In other news, Minister of Awqaf and Islamic Affairs and Minister of State for Municipal Affairs Fahd AlShulah yesterday headed a meeting with the supreme planning committee, Kuwait Municipality director and various municipal officials. The meeting was dedicated to discussing the new cleaning contracts and preparations for the rainy season.

Pharmacists decry govt procedure

The private sector Kuwaiti pharmacists forum (currently being established) strongly condemned Kuwait Union of Consumer Cooperative Societies’ (KUCCS) attempts to stop the implementation of law number 30/2016 (pharmacies law) although it had been unanimously approved by a majority of lawmakers and the parliamentary health affairs committee. Head of the forum, pharmacist Mohammed Al-Enezi, said the forum had been established to protect the interests of pharmacy owners holding licenses since 1996. He added that the law aims at encouraging Kuwaiti pharmacists, protecting their rights and enabling them to find better investment opportunities in the private sector as part of the New Kuwait 2035 vision.

Co-founder and pharmacist Hamad Al-Sultan said the law had given grace periods to co-ops and hospitals with a bed capacity of less than 50 till mid-2017 to legalize their statuses before extending the grace period for a further year that ended in mid-2018, followed by a third grace period that ended in June 2019. “Most co-ops have been evasively stalling,” he stressed.

Pharmacist Faisal Al-Ruwaiyyeh called for fighting the rumors spread by KUCCS warning shareholders against the law. “Most co-op pharmacies are run by certain companies and all the profits go to them and not to shareholders,” he underlined. Finally, forum members urged the health minister and minister of social affairs to look into the matter and help implement the law that has been delayed since 2016.

Embezzlement

The court of cassation yesterday sentenced a Kuwait ambassador working abroad to seven years in jail with labor for embezzling KD 220,000.