Kuwait parliament panel approves proposed amendment to Nationality Law

KUWAIT CITY - The parliamentary Legislative and Legal Affairs Committee on Monday approved the proposed amendment to the Nationality Law in order to grant allowance to children of Kuwaiti women married to non-Kuwaitis and another bill on the development of the civil aviation sector. On the other hand, the committee rejected the proposal to reduce the life imprisonment period to 25 years.

Ministry of Interior Undersecretary Lieutenant General Mahmoud Al-Dosari explained after the meeting that reducing the life imprisonment period to 25 years will not serve as a deterrent. He asserted the ministry is against any proposal to reduce the imprisonment period as this is considered interference in the affairs of the judicial authority.

Meanwhile, MP Waleed Al-Tabtabaei has forwarded questions to Finance Minister Nayef Al-Hajraf about Kuwait Public Transport Company (KPTC). He demanded for information such as the number of government and private contracts signed by the company, duration and value of each contract, losses incurred in the last 10 years if any, reasons behind these losses, measures taken regarding violations of articles 198 and 211 of the Companies Law in the last 10 years, action taken regarding inventory violations (tools and machines) in the last 10 years, number of vacant units if any, reasons for not leasing these units, locations of these units, expected investment value, and period these units has been vacant He also asked about amendment of the structure of ownership in the capital of affiliate companies, action taken to protect funds invested in affiliate companies, if KPTC operates in other parts of the Gulf region, reason for not implementing the strategic plan for the years 2016-2020, justification for the board of directors’ decision to reject the plan, if the company prepared a new plan, and implementation cost.

He wants to know why there is a large stock of stagnant and slow-moving items and reasons for not using these items in operations or disposals in the last 10 years.

On another issue, MP Mohammed Al-Huwailah has submitted questions to State Minister for Housing Affairs and Services Dr Jenan Bushahri on the Ministry of Communications’ delayed implementation of some development projects due to failure to complete tender procedures within the deadline for more than six financial years. He inquired why the ministry failed to realize objectives set out in the State Development Plan and why it did not use funds allocated for the development projects.

Moreover, Al-Huwailah asked Minister of Education and Higher Education Dr Hamid Al-Azmi about the plans of Kuwait University to accommodate the rising number of students. He requested for details like the obstacles and challenges that the university is expected to face in the next five years, especially with regard to its admission policy.