Panel nods plans to modify state support services law – Homes for Kuwaiti women okayed

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KUWAIT CITY, Dec 6: The parliamentary Legislative and Legal Affairs Committee approved Sunday the proposals to modify laws on State support for services like electricity, water and fuel provided to government institutions and their employees. The panel also endorsed the proposed amendments to the law on National Fund to Support Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs) and the Handicapped Law. C o m m i t t e e Rapporteur MP Ahmad Al-Qudaibi told reporters after the meeting that the draft bills on amending the National Fund to Support Small and Medium Enterprises Law and the State support for services were referred to the Finance Committee; while the proposal to amend the Handicapped Law is now in the hands of the Handicapped Affairs Committee.

In another development, the Educational Affairs Committee decided to allow media experts and practitioners to electronically submit their proposals and comments on the Electronics Media Draft Law within two weeks. Committee Rapporteur MP Mohammad Al-Hamdan confirmed that the panel has finalized deliberations on the draft law; indicating the media experts and practitioners will be invited to the final discussion, along with representatives of the Information Ministry. He added the committee will soon submit its periodic report on Shedadiya University project to the Ministry of Education and then schedule a field visit to the project site in order to compare the contents of the report with the actual work.

Meanwhile, the Women and Family Committee has agreed on the need to grant housing rights to Kuwaiti women married to non-Kuwaitis. It also discussed the request of the Housing Affairs Ministry to include women in the upcoming housing projects and replace apartments measuring 100 square meters with those measuring 400 square meters.

Committee Rapporteur MP Mohammad Tana Al-Anazi revealed those who attended the meeting included state minister for Housing Affairs, director general of Public Authority for Housing Welfare (PAHW), director general of Credit Bank and many people actively dealing with issues concerning child, the disabled and women. He said the committee discussed the housing issue extensively and listened to all opinions on housing care requests and ways to grant housing rights to women like their male counterparts. He added the committee is currently drafting laws to ensure that women fully enjoy their housing rights.

On another issue, MP Yusuf Al-Zalzalah has warned that the alleged appointment of officials at the Ministry of Information without taking into consideration their qualifications and competence might force the minister to stand on the grilling podium. “We said it before and we repeat that the appointment of officials based on favoritism or ‘wasta’ (influence) will be detrimental to the ministry’s performance,” he added. He claimed the performance of the ministry has deteriorated up to the level of accumulated failures are unacceptable. He said the malpractices in the appointment of officials continued; hence, the need for lawmakers to use their constitutional tools to stop combat corruption in the ministry, particularly the biased appointment of officials.

By Abubakar A. Ibrahim Arab Times Staff

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