MP proposes 3% remittance tax to ignite economic growth

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KUWAIT CITY, Sept 28: MP Fahad bin Jame’e submitted a proposal to impose fees on remittances by three percent of the remittance amount.

He revealed that the remittances sent from Kuwait are roughly KD 5 billion or $17 billion per year, indicating that the neighboring countries including Saudi Arabia and Bahrain imposed such fees several years ago.

The lawmaker urged the Central Bank of Kuwait to impose penalties on the violating banks and money exchange companies.

Also, MP Fahad bin Jame’e submitted another proposal to grant exceptional indemnity to the non-ranked military officers at Kuwait Army, National Guard, Kuwait Fire Service Directorate and Ministry of Interior.

He explained that the decisions issued by the Council of Ministers stipulated granting exceptional indemnity to the officers who retired after 2010 but it did not include the non ranked officers, which violates the principle of justice and equality.

Meanwhile, MP Abdulhadi Al-Ajmi submitted parliamentary questions to His Highness the Prime Minister Sheikh Ahmad Nawaf Al-Ahmad Al-Sabah about the issue of conflict of interests in appointing the Minister of Education, Higher Education and Scientific Research Adel Al Mane’e.

He asked if Sheikh Ahmad Nawaf Al-Sabah was aware about the violations related to promoting Al-Mane’e as a member of staff of lecturers at the College of Law in Kuwait University (KU), after leaving the university, based on the decision to appoint him as the Secretary General of the Council of Public Sector Universities, which means that he is no longer part of the university.

The lawmaker said there are suspicions about conflict of interest between the Council of Public Sector Universities presided over by Al-Mane’e and the Kuwait University administration.

MP Al-Ajmi indicated that the Council of Public Sector Universities approved the committee, which was formed by the Acting President of Kuwait University to name the KU President with pressures imposed on the College of Law to continue promoting Al-Mane’e in violation of the KU regulations.

He asked Sheikh Ahmad Nawaf Al-Sabah if he was aware of such violations before appointing Al-Mane’e as the Minister of Education, Higher Education and Scientific Research.

The lawmaker said the issue exceeds the Ministry of Education and Ministry of Higher Education and is a bigger issue related to the procedures adopted to appoint senior officials, which reflects negatively or positively on the performance of the government and the public institutions.

In another development, MP Abdul Kareem Al-Kandari called upon the government to take an action much stronger than submitting a protest letter against the recent procedures of Iraq towards the agreement signed with Kuwait to organize marine movement in Abdullah Port.

He said, “We are no longer talking only about the bad intention of the Iraqi party but we are faced with an attitude of hostility represented in the statement signed by 174 Iraqi MPs asking to send a copy of the ruling issued by Iraqi Federal Court to nullify the agreement with Kuwait to the United Nations, in addition to the decision of the Iraqi Government to cancel the security protocol signed by Kuwait and Iraq.”

By Saeed Mahmoud Saleh
Al-Seyassah/Arab Times Staff

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