Bill on adding $1.99bln to Kuwait's budgets for frontliners reward on the anvil

KUWAIT CITY: The Parliamentary Priorities Committee on Tuesday agreed to include in the agenda of the upcoming National Assembly session the bill on adding KD600 million to the budgets of various institutions and ministries for the reward of workers on the frontline of the fight against coronavirus, says Chairman of the committee MP Hesham Al-Saleh.

Al-Saleh expects approval of the bill in the upcoming session of the Assembly and payment of the reward to deserving employees before Eid Al-Fitr.

Meanwhile, MP Abdulaziz Al-Saqaabi asked Minister of Education Ali Fahd Al-Mudaf about the procedures taken by the ministry to ensure that the companies providing security guards and cleaning workers which signed contracts with the ministry are paying the salaries of workers on time during the coronavirus crisis.

He wants to know if the ministry uncovered violations committed by some companies, penalties imposed on them, and if the ministry paid dues to the contracting companies on time as stated in the contracts.

He requested for copies of the contracts that the ministry signed with the contracting companies since the beginning of the crisis.

MP Adnan Abdulsamad forwarded queries to Deputy Prime Minister, Minister of Justice and Minister of State for Nazaha Enhancement Abdullah Al-Rumi on the memorandum of cooperation signed by Kuwait — represented by Kuwait Anti-Corruption Authority (Nazaha), and Egypt — represented by the Administrative Control Authority (ACA).

Abdulsamad asked about the bases for signing the memorandum as part of the bilateral agreement between the two countries and international index accredited by Nazaha in terms of classifying countries according to perceptions of corruption and transparency. He then demanded for a copy of the index.

Corruption

The lawmaker asked about the top 10 countries in terms of confronting corruption, ranks of Kuwait and in the index, and if Nazaha intends to sign a memorandum of cooperation with advanced countries in confronting corruption according to global indicators.

He also asked Minister of Finance and Minister of State for Economic and Investment Affairs Khalifa Hamada about the Public Institution for Social Security’s (PIFSS) deal to buy Raya 2 Tower in Salhiya, Kuwait City for KD58 million.

He wants to know if the deal is based on feasibility studies and requested for copies of these studies if the response is in the affirmative. He asked about the budget allocated for such a deal and if it matches the market value of the tower.

On the other hand, MP Abdullah Al-Turaiji submitted a proposal to allow the owners of small and medium enterprises (SMEs) to invest in the administration and operation of public parks. He took this step because he noticed that there are a number of neglected parks even though a large amount was used to establish them.

He pointed out that the proposal will support owners of SMEs by creating new businesses, while it is beneficial to citizens and expatriates who will enjoy using the public parks.

MPs Mehalhal Al-Mudaf, Muhannad Al-Sayer, Mubarak Al-Arow, Musaed Al-Ardi and Hassan Jawhar submitted a bill on banning the appointment of expatriate consultants in ministries and other public institutions.

The bill mandates the Civil Service Commission (CSC) to form a team of experts in charge of recruiting national consultants to replace the expatriates. The bill states that hiring expatriate consultants will be limited for a specific term, which is non-renewable, and for a certain task only if none of the nationals have the required qualification and experience.

The expatriate consultant under such circumstances must hold an academic certificate obtained from one of the top 50 universities in the world as per the international academic indexes.