MoE cleaners protest over not being paid since July
Statistics show 57 percent marriages end in divorce within the first year
KUWAIT: A number of cleaners rallied outside the Education Ministry building yesterday in protest over not receiving their salaries since July, which made the ministry’s services manager Fahd Al-Hayyab summon the contracting company’s representative to warn him to resolve the problem. The ministry’s assistant undersecretary and official spokesperson Faisal Maqseed stressed that cleaners’ salaries are the responsibility of the company hiring them and that the ministry will take legal action against the company.
Meanwhile, assistant undersecretary for administrative affairs and development Raja Boroki said the ministry had paid all its financial commitments to the company providing the cleaners and that the company had been already contacted and urged to resolve the problem of cleaners’ overdue salaries. Boroki added the manpower authority has also been contacted to take legal action against the company.
Divorce statistics
A recent governmental report showed the total number of divorces amongst Kuwaitis married to expats in the past nine years was 13,528, including 5,070 Kuwaiti women divorced by expat husbands. The report also showed that the highest rate of divorces was registered in 2018 with 587 cases, compared to only 382 in 2009. “In most cases (57 percent), couples divorced within the first year of marriage,” the sources highlighted.
Meanwhile, the report showed that 8,880 marriages were registered between expats and Kuwaiti women within the same period. Further, the report showed 23,251 Kuwaitis got married to expat women in the same period and that 36 percent (8,458) got divorced an annual rate of 2,300 marriages and 730 divorces.
Former ministers sued
Lawyers Mohammed Al-Ansari and Abdullah AlHammadi yesterday filed cases at the public prosecutor’s office against former justice ministers Yaqoub AlSane and Faleh Al-Azab, accusing them of forgery and public funds violations. Meanwhile, well-informed sources said it will be hard to deal with the consequences of a court of cassation verdict which annulled the appointment of 560 experts at the justice ministry, that had been made by the two former ministers. Further parliamentary and cabinet intervention will be needed to finalize the matter, especially after discovering several cases of corruption, profiteering and manipulation in appointing the experts, the sources explained. In this regard, chairman of the justice ministry’s experts syndicate Nasser Ayed stressed he had met Justice Minister Fahd Al-Afasi to discuss the problem. Ayed also noted that the syndicate made several suggestions to resolve the problem and explained that only 1 percent (5 to 6) of the 560 experts were unlawfully appointed.
Former justice ministers sued
Joint contract
Well-informed sources said a delegation from the
Philippines will visit Kuwait in January to sign a joint contract to provide Kuwait with domestic helpers. “The new contract will resolve problems related to resuming the recruitment of domestic helpers from the Philippines,” the sources underlined, pointing out that more points are yet to be discussed and tackled in the agreement, namely those related to litigations and resolving employee-sponsor problems. The sources added that a Kuwaiti delegation will visit Indonesia and the Philippines by the end of the year to work on problem solving and expanding the scope of recruitment at reasonable prices.
Self-defense
The detention extension judge yesterday ordered the release of a janitor from Mali who had been accused of killing a Saudi and injuring his friend in the Jahra desert. The judge’s decision was made after he deemed the murder as self-defense, as the two had assaulted the defendant to rob him. Meanwhile, the court of cassation yesterday sentenced preacher Fuad Al-Refai to seven years in jail with labor and a KD 100,000 fine for blaspheming the Shiite doctrine.