KUWAIT CITY, Oct 7: Several lawmakers condemned the transfer of some Kuwaiti pilots from Kuwait Airways Corporation (KAC) to work in the government sector, to the extent that some of the lawmakers sent parliamentary questions in this regard to the Minister of Communications and State Minister for Municipality Affairs Essa Al-Kandari, reports Al-Seyassah daily.

MP Mohammad Tana raised the first question, asking whether KAC has already transferred those 36 pilots to the government sector where their services are needed. He asked, “If yes, why were they purged? What is the basis for deciding the right place for the pilots between the government sector and KAC, knowing well that the privatization law will be implemented after five years when the strategic partner will be involved?” Tana also asked if KAC signed contracts with expatriate pilots. If yes, he demanded for a list of the names and nationalities of those expatriate pilots.

Meanwhile, another lawmaker MP Abdullah Al-Mayouf focused mainly on the appointment of Kuwaiti and expatriate pilots including those who were paid their end-of-service indemnities. He asked if KAC needed all of them including those who were interested in getting transferred to the government sector, based on a survey conducted by the corporation.

Al-Mayouf said, “If the answer is in affirmative, why wasn’t this mentioned to the National Assembly for necessary legislation? What were the budgets of the Operations Sector for training in 2014, 2015 and 2016?” He demanded for a detailed response including the fl eet details and the reasons for inflation, if any.

He asked, “What is the current percentage of national workforce? What is the percentage of national workforce in the finance sector specifically?” Demanding for the names and nationalities of the workforce along with justification for failing to employ Kuwaitis there, Al-Mayouf declared, “Did KAC employ Kuwaiti pilots including 36 who were paid end-of-service indemnities? If yes, send a list of their names and the cost on the company?” The third series of questions was raised by MP Faisal Al-Duwaisan.

He asked about the legal proof for the procedures and the number of times the privatization law was published in Kuwait Gazette. “Was the Kuwait Airways Corporation Privatization Law published in error and republished with the errors rectified? At every point of its publishing, was the intention behind its republishing at intervals specified?”, MP Al-Duwaisan asked. He said, “It was mentioned that the maximum period for implementing the law was the day Kuwait Airways Company was launched, which was on Dec 14, 2015, but the implementation is yet to be carried out”, asking, “So on what legal basis was the intent approved before implementing the law? Why were the pilots transferred to the government sector within a period of two weeks?”