KUWAIT CITY, March 18: The parliament’s Independent Bloc said they will oppose the recently finalized bill on citizens’ debt relief during deliberations on Tuesday. The bloc explained the bill “will pump billions of Kuwaiti dinars into banks and financial institutions under the pretext of helping debtors”.
Bloc member MP Yaqoub Al-Sane’ said the bloc is of the view that the bill “will reward the offending banks and financial institutions by giving them billions instead of holding them accountable for excess in interest rates that were imposed on debtors between 2002 and 2008”.

Therefore, he added, the bloc will propose on Tuesday an alternative solution that will “obligate the banks to return the interests taken from the debtors that were above the limit rate of 4 percent”.
Al-Sane’ said he hopes the “Minister of Finance Mustafa Al-Shammali revises the debt deal, which he had previously opposed on numerous occasions, even if the stance requires him to tender his resignation”.

MP Saleh Al-Ashour added that banks have been “causing economic trouble for 20 years due to unjustifiable and illegal interest rate charges imposed on citizens”.

“We want the government, represented by Central Bank and Minister of Finance, to take political responsibility and obligate the banks to return the illegal interest rates taken from citizens with low income,” he said.

He added the bill is not comprehensive and “does not clearly outline how the Family Fund will be implemented or the exact costs on the government from public funds”.

The legislative and executive authorities recently agreed to establish a Family Fund that will purchase the remaining principal of the loans taken by citizens from Jan 1, 2002 and March 30, 2008 from Islamic and conventional banks and financial institutions. The process seeks to waive the interests on those loans and reschedules the repayment in installments that do not exceed 40 percent of the debtors’ income.
Meanwhile, the Legal and Legislative Committee discussed proposals to amend the Elections Law pertaining to the criteria of eligible candidates. The committee also approved a proposal that grants citizenship to the children of martyrs in the Iraqi invasion of 1990.

Moreover, the Family and Women Affairs Committee and the Economic and Financial Affairs Committee discussed the issue of housing care for Kuwaiti women on Monday. MP Masouma Al-Mubarak said the committees have preliminarily agreed to raise the rate of housing loans and housing allowance granted to women to equal that of the rates granted to men.

The Chairman of Interior and Defense Committee, MP Askar Al-Enezi announced Sunday the committee has given the nod to naturalize 4,000 bedoun during 2013.

Speaking to reporters after the meeting, Al-Enezi said since the bill was approved during the first reading of the previous session, it is included on the Parliament agenda. It will be put for a second vote during Tuesday’s session.

The Committee Rapporteur, Abdullah Al-Tameemi explained the committee also discussed the draft amendment to the law that specifies the number of bedoun to be given the citizenship in 2013, which is not more than 4,000 people.

He pointed out the committee has taken a promise from the government that the lion’s share of the citizenship should go the bedoun.

Al-Tameemi added, “However the government has opposed this amendment and we fear it will reject this law. We will go for summer holidays and 2013 will pass without grating nationality to any bedoun.”
He added, the committee also discussed and approved an amendment bill to Article (8) of the citizenship law to grant citizenship to non-Kuwaiti widows or bedoun married to Kuwaitis provided they have children.

In another development, MP Ahmed Al-Mulaifi has warned of what he described as a scandal in the Ministry of Public Works - hike in prices and manipulation in price of tenders.

Speaking to the press inside the Parliament building, Al-Mulaifi disclosed he has put a query to Minister of Public Works Abdulaziz Al-Ibrahim based on the information he got from the Parliament.

He added his question is on the Mubarak Tower whose projected cost is believed to be 7 billion, compared to the Khalifa Tower in Dubai this cost in ‘big’. He said the official answer he got from the ministry confirms there is some sort of manipulation, collusion or lack of expertise and competence.

He said his question is also about evaluating the cost of furnishing the new Parliament building. The ministry has put the value at KD 10 million in spite of the entire construction costing KD 30 million. “We had reservation on this amount, but in general the Parliament rejected this amount and set an amount of KD 2,099,000.”

He explained he had asked the minister to explain the difference in the amount and the answer confirms our observations about exaggeration in projects, waste and misappropriation of public funds.

He said following a response from the minister a neutral committee has been formed to study the tender of importing, installing and maintenance of furnishing the new Parliament building. It was discovered the KD 10 million was incorrect and that this figure had been exaggerated.  The actual tender did not exceed KD 2,099,000.

Meanwhile, MP Yaqoub Al-Sane has presented a draft bill for the establishment of ‘Kuwait Social Fund’. The aim of the fund is to contribute to the expansion of social solidarity base among the citizens.

According to the bill, the fund will carry out several activities including social solidarity activities that aim at achieving social development for citizens, grant social loans for citizens and grant assistances for deserving people. The fund will also carry out other activities in accordance with the laws or decrees from the prime minister or decisions from the Fund’s board of directors.

Meanwhile, MPs Nasser Al-Murri, Faisal Al-Kandari, Taher Al-Failakawi, Hamad Al-Harshani and Bader Al-Bazalli have submitted a draft proposal demanding the government, Kuwait Petroleum Corporation and its subsidiaries to refine 50 percent of domestic oil production in Kuwait in order to create an added value on the economy and diversify sources of national income to boost the economy and create job opportunities for Kuwaiti youths in future.