Crisis team urged on domestics labor issue

KUWAIT CITY, Aug 26: In a bid to address what he described as a deep-seated issue, MP Mohammed Al-Dallaal has submitted a proposal to form a crisis management team which will deal with the domestic labor issue. He explained that despite the parliamentary and governmental efforts to address the issue, as well as the existence of laws and regulations governing this sector; there have been numerous incidents due to complications which can now be considered matters of national security as they directly affect Kuwaiti families.

The MP also pointed out that the issue can be viewed as a foreign affairs complication because of disputes between workers, their embassies and the Kuwaiti public; citing the recent problem between the Philippine Embassy and the Kuwaiti government.

Therefore, he submitted a proposal for the Cabinet to form a crisis management team whose members are from the ministries of Interior, Commerce and Social Affairs, in addition to the Public Authority for Manpower (PAM). He said the team’s functions include preventing domestic labor problems, finding plausible solutions to existing problems, and enforcing laws and regulations while having the authority to submit recommendations to amend these laws and regulations.

Furthermore, MP Sadoon Al- Otaibi called on State Minister for Housing Affairs and Public Services Dr Jinan Boushehri to quickly implement law number 2/2015 on reallocation of houses for those who sold their houses; considering more than three years have passed since the law was approved and published in the Official Gazette.

In a press statement, the lawmaker asserted that despite this long period, the Public Authority for Housing Welfare (PAHW) has yet to implement the law. He said the committee tasked to assess housing grant applications has announced that there are more than 1,900 eligible applicants but none of them has received a house until now.

This has prompted the MP to submit the proposal for the authority to allocate housing units and grant housing loan amounting to KD70,000 as an alternative solution, especially since it has failed to execute Article One of the law stipulating the allocation of housing units within three years of enacting the law.

By Ahmed Al-Naqeeb Arab Times Staff