KUWAIT CITY, Feb 28: MP Ahmed Larri has stressed on the need to address the issue of trading in visas and unskilled workers which come at the expense of personal and country’s interests and in violation of international agreements.

He called for strict application of the law so that existing workers are skilled and those who serve the interests of the country and its development “instead of workers who negatively affect the development plan, is a hurdle to the population structure and put pressure on the vital services, traffic and hospitals.”
Larri also called on the Minister of Social Affairs and Labor to continue with her serious steps to correct the situation.

In a related issue, MP Abdullah Al-Tameemi has presented a draft proposal on how to reduce the size of expatriate workers particularly those who are unskilled. He suggested the following steps:

l Issuance of a strict and crystal clear decision by the Cabinet obligating all government and private establishments to comply with it.

l Stipulation of the percentage of expatriates, so that their total number does not exceed 50 percent of the number of the citizens.

l Specifying the percentage for big communities in the country by 100,000 people for every nationality. This clause should limit to only three nationalities maximum.

l Setting non-renewable residence permit for the average technicians with 7 years and for skilled technicians 10 years.

l The condition is not applicable for workers of rare specializations since they would be granted only 15 years residence permit on condition they train Kuwaitis in this specialization.

l Taking deterrent measures against the institutions and individuals who contribute to the spread of unskilled workers and violation of labor law. They should be fined between KD 15,000 and KD 100,000. This is in addition to other punitive measures.

l Limiting the issuance of business entry visas to business men, capital-owners and holders of doctorate degree certificates.

l Installation of eye-scanning security verification to prevent returning of anyone who use forged passport.
l Forming a consultative committee to set legal opinion for granting entry visas or residence permit for expatriates.

l Setting a timetable to implement this proposal immediately after its approval and obliging the government to execute it within six months.

On another issue, MP Khaled Al-Adwa has called on the authorities not to issue new licenses to companies or persons who were found guilty of smuggling spoiled foodstuffs and meat into the country.
In the same context, Al-Adwa has submitted parliamentary queries to the Minister of Commerce and Industry Anas Al-Saleh about the phenomenon of smuggling rotten meat into the country.

In his questions, Al-Adwa wants to know the number of shipments of spoiled meat and food that were seized before they were smuggled into the country during the last three years. He also wants to know the quantity in tons.

He also wants to know the quantity and quality of meat and food that are not allowed to be in circulation in Kuwait which the suppliers had attempted to smuggle over the last three years. He has asked for detailed measures that have been taken by the Ministry of Commerce and the customs officials against such shipments and their affiliate companies?

He wants the ministry to provide him with the number of cases that have been filed on the suppliers of those companies, and comparative list between the number of cases filed by the ministry and the seized shipments in the last three years?

He also inquired about the outcome of the cases filed by the ministry in relation to attempts to smuggle spoiled meat food into the country over the last five years and the verdicts that have been issued by courts.

“Did the ministry announce the names of the companies that tried to enter those shipments into the country through the media after the final court verdict,” he asked.

Al-Adwa has also asked about the number of licenses granted to companies and individuals who tried to import the spoiled meat or food into the country and if the ministry has allowed to issue new licenses.
Meanwhile, MP Nawaf Al-Fuzai is sticking to his determination to grill the Minister of Finance Mustafa Al-Shamali saying “I will not back down from my request as long as Minister Al-Shamali fails to address the loan issue in the right way.”

The parliamentarian said this during a press conference in the Parliament building. He was accompanied by citizens who are affected by the interests on consumer loans. The press conference was held under the title ‘No to postponement or bargaining in resolving the loan issue.’

He explained the grilling will reveal the corruption and the names of those who incited and misappropriated the public funds. He noted some of the solutions that have been laid down are far from the basis of the problem.

He added, “The Central Bank and the banking institutions have stolen people’s money through illegal means. It is a real case and the courts have issued verdicts in favor of the some debtors.”

Al-Fuzai criticized the Finance Minister for issuing what he called “conflicting statements.” He also criticized the minister for using the principle of ‘fair and just’ as an excuse.

He asked, “Is it fair on the part of the State to give millions of dinars in grants to investors on the stock exchange and deprive the common man? Why didn’t the Finance Minister apply the tax law on the companies? Is it fair to give donations worth KD 4 billion to more 100 countries and deprive citizens the citizens of benefit of about a billion dinars to solve their problems which are caused by the state?”
Some of the citizens who are affected and were present during the press conference, talked to the press about their grievances and explained how they fell victim to the loan due to the lack of oversight on the banks by the Central Bank.

Chairman of the “National Popular Campaign for Writing off Loans,” Hamad Al-Harbi stressed all Members of Parliament have not offered anything to the citizens to resolve their pending issues such as the loans “except Al-Fuzai who has submitted a grilling request against the Finance Minister who is in charge of the loans issue.”

He indicated this Parliament does not represent the citizens if it does not find a solution to the loan issue. He added previous governments did not resolve important issues until problems snowballed and ran out of control.

He added the government has admitted that the loans issue is a serious one by creating the ‘defaulters fund’.

One of the debtors, Yousef Suwailim thanked Al-Fuzai for supporting the citizens. He added his problem is with the National Bank of Kuwait (NBK).

He added he borrowed from the bank KD 15,000 and is taking from him KD 32,000. The rate of interest is not fixed and ranges between five and nine percent, but now he got a court ruling that the interest rate should be fixed at 4 percent.

Another defaulter, Salem Mullah Ali said he borrowed from one of the banks in 2003 and that the interest rate kept rising drastically. He added, “We reject postponing this issue to more than this because the issue has aggravated to a dangerous level and we wish that it is solved now.”