KUWAIT CITY, Jan 26: Opposition MPs lamented on Wednesday after Speaker of Parliament, Jassem Al-Khorafi, adjourned the day’s Assembly session before debating their request not to cancel the Feb. 8 grilling session with the Minister of Interior. Al-Khorafi also adjourned the session before discussing the parliamentary investigative report on the deceased Kuwaiti citizen, Mohammed Al-Mutairi.

“The government can’t say that it is the legislative authority that delays development when they are the ones who’ve approved the break from four sessions. We have requested the Assembly to keep the Feb. 8 and 9 sessions and Al-Khorafi agreed to debate the issue after the Amiri grant and military increments. However, he hurriedly adjourned the session and did not keep his promise,” said MP Musallam Al-Barrak.

He warned that gatherings and seminars against the government will continue within various diwaniys, as like the time of the Sulaibikhat incident, because the government has delayed important sessions and escaped discussing Al-Mutairi’s report. “It is obvious that this is a conspiracy,” said Al-Barrak.

Delay
On his part, MP Faisal Al-Muslim said that even though many vital laws were passed, there are still people who are willing to delay sessions for 40 days. “I would like to thank His Highness the Amir for his gracious grant to the Kuwaiti people, however we have requested that the grant be issued earlier, on Feb 10 instead of Feb 24, so that citizens can benefit from it during the month, but the government has refused. They claimed that it is not within their capabilities, even though all the mechanisms are ready,” he complained.
Al-Muslim also argued that amendments to the Civil Services Law for the benefit of women were more important than the Foreign Residency Law. “Some members of the women affairs committee have betrayed the Kuwaiti woman today. The Civil Services Law should have been discussed first because they include more important articles. There was an agreement between the executive and legislative authorities in this regard. However, the government decided to assess the costs, which is unnecessary as the Kuwaiti woman deserves all what the country can give her,” he said.

Approved
The Parliament had approved amendments to the Foreign Residency Law that will allow Kuwaiti women to sponsor their non-Kuwaiti husbands and children, and approved articles that allow non-Kuwaiti widows to remain in Kuwait to raise her Kuwaiti children, among others. The Amiri grant also includes giving the monetary allowance to the children of Kuwaiti women as like the children of Kuwaiti men. However, voting on amendments to the Civil Services Law that will provide Kuwaiti women with her occupational rights were bypassed until March.

Al-Barrak added that the government will keep attempting to delay approving civil services laws and that women MPs have conspired with them. The Women and Family Affairs Committee had previously expressed their disappointment with the government when it had requested the referral of the civil services law to the finance committee to assess the costs after the amendments were agreed upon by both authorities.
However, among many others, MPs Rola Dashti, Salwa Al-Jassar and Maasouma Al-Mubarak congratulated the Kuwaiti woman on Wednesday for the accomplishments that will ensure her family’s stability.
Al-Mubarak said that the Kuwaiti woman had suffered for decades to ensure her non-Kuwaiti husband and her children residency visas, therefore the stability of her family was not guaranteed. “The unanimous approval of the executive and legislative authorities of the new laws is a major accomplishment,” she said.
Meanwhile, Chairman of the Human Rights Committee, MP Faisal Al-Duwaisan announced that the committee with other independent MPs will pay a visit on Monday Jan 31 to the Central Prison and Deportation Center. The MPs will meet with randomly selected detainees and assess the institutions’ human rights standards. Al-Duwaisan condemned the Ministry of Interior’s delay in approving the visit.