KUWAIT CITY, May 8: The Cabinet is expected to approve the new salary scales for both the government and oil sector workers collectively, reports Al-Shahid daily quoting reliable sources. The State Minister for Parliament Affairs, the spokesperson of the government Dr Mohammed Al-Busairi announced the Cabinet will approve all allowances, compensation and salary increments referred by the Civil Service Commission (CSC) except the salary scales of experts at the Justice Ministry, Investigations Department, Fatwa, Legislation and Legal Department at the Kuwait Municipality, which have been referred to the Legal Committee at the Cabinet for further study to pave the way for its approval in the next two weeks.

Meanwhile, the acting director of the Public Authority for Applied Education and Training (PAAET) Dr Meshal Al-Meshal issued a decision identifying the special courses in the faculties and institutes of PAAET, in addition to allotting KD 50 award monthly for all such courses, with the exception of computer and Arabic language which will be granted KD 100 monthly, diploma in nursing specification will receive KD 300 monthly, whereas the bachelor of nursing is to receive KD 350 monthly, the institute of nursing is to get KD 100 monthly and the two institutes in Shuwaikh and Sabah Al-Salem will receive KD 150 monthly.

In the meantime, MP Khalid Al-Tahous described request by the parliamentary Finance Affairs Committee to raise the capital base of the Fund for the Needy to one billion dinars as one of the many palliative solutions the government always apply to issues, reports Al-Wasat daily. Al-Tahous affirmed the citizens are in need of major solutions far from palliative ones, which will only reduce burdens on the needy families who are suffering from accumulated loan interests. He stressed the fund is a big lie in which the government believes, and lamented over the registration of only 4,000 debtors, whereas the government could have registered at least 10 percent of the total 269,000. 

The daily quoted a source as saying the issue surfaced, as a result of the forthcoming joint meeting between the government representatives, and the Finance Affairs Committee, which will take place Monday to discuss proposed amendments to Law Number 28/2008 of the Fund for the Needy. He stressed the committee’s proposal include recommendations by the lawmakers who support the amendment and oppose the debt cancellation bill, which the government rejected, and suggested raising the fund’s capital from KD 500 million to one billion, instead of the KD 750,000,000 suggested by the government. Meanwhile, another major point of disagreement upon which deliberation is necessary involves the opening of registration opportunity to debtors beginning Sept 30, 2009, as against Dec 31, 2008 suggested by the government.