‘Sack board chair or face grilling’ – MP issues threat to commerce minister

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MP Riyadh Al-Adsani

KUWAIT CITY, Dec 22: MP Riyadh Al-Adsani affirms that he is committed to his promise to grill Minister of Commerce and Industry Khaled Al-Roudhan if the latter does not apply the law and terminate the Board Chairman of Al-Durra Company for Domestic Labor Recruitment, who has a criminal record, by the end of January 2020.

He highlighted that he had previously grilled the Minister of Interior as well as the Minister of Finance who eventually resigned. MP Al-Adsani reiterated that the Minister of Commerce and Industry has grace period until the end of January 2020 to dismiss the Chairman of the Board of Directors of Al- Durra Company, failing which he will have to start preparing to face grilling.

It is worth mentioning that MP Al-Adsani had been calling for the dismissal of the Board of Directors of Al-Durra Company from the time the latter was a member of the Board of Directors of Kaifan Cooperative Society. Earlier, the Fatwa and Legislation Department had sent a letter to Ministry of Commerce and Industry in which it said a number of board members of Durra Company have been representing the Union of Consumer Cooperative Societies in Al-Durra Company while they are working as government employees, which is in violation of the relevant laws.

The department urged the ministry to restructure the Board of Directors of the company in order to abide by the legal regulations in this regard. Meanwhile, Deputy National Assembly Speaker Essa Al- Kandari praised the decision taken by the Minister of Interior Anas Al-Saleh to form a committee for investigating the circumstances that led to the death of the citizen Ahmed Al-Dhefairi.

He affirmed that the committee has good and efficient specialists headed by Director of General Department of Investigations Dr Fahd Al-Dousari and with Dean of Faculty of Law in Kuwait University Dr Fayez Al-Dhefairi and Dr Mohammad Al-Fawal from the Department of Forensic Medicine in Faculty of Medicine in Kuwait University as members. Al-Kandari revealed that the minister gave the committee a deadline of one week to complete their task and submit the final report, which should include the reasons behind the death of Ahmed Al-Dhefairi.

In this regard, MPs Mohammad Husain Al-Dalal, Osama Al-Shaheen, Saleh Ashour, Abdullah Al-Kandari and Mohammad Al-Hadiya submitted a proposal to the National Assembly, asking for the formation of a three-member committee in the coming parliamentary session.

According to their proposal, this committee should be tasked with investigating the circumstances that led to the death of the disabled Kuwaiti citizen Ahmed Al-Dhefairi in a detention center of Ministry of Interior.

The committee must prepare and submit a report in this regard after one month starting from the date of its assignment. It must elaborate on the reasons and circumstances that led to the death of Ahmed Al-Dhefairi and specify to what extent the ministry was committed to the recommendations issued by the parliamentary committee that investigated the death of the Kuwaiti citizen Mohammad Ghazai in a similar incident that occurred in 2011.

During a press conference, MP Mohammad Al-Dallal insisted that detention must always be based on a warrant issued by Public Prosecution. He said, “It is dangerous when an accused dies during investigations,” inquiring if the deceased was accompanied by a lawyer during the investigations.

Al-Dallal asked if the investigations’ rooms in Ministry of Interior are installed with surveillance cameras and recording devices in order to ensure proper transparency.

He revealed that he and a number of MPs have signed a bill that aims at transferring the control of General Department of Criminal Evidences, Forensics Medicine Department, and laboratories to Ministry of Justice in order to ensure justice and transparency. In another development, MP Mohammad Hadi Al-Huwailah submitted a proposal to recommend the establishment of a factory for recycling electronic waste.

He indicated that many of them have valuable metals and parts that can be reused, which can serve as a good source of income for the country, besides protecting the environment.

MP Al-Huwailah recommended conducting campaigns to raise awareness among citizens about the dangers of keeping electronic waste and guiding them on the proper way to deal with them. Furthermore, MP Farraj Al-Abeid submitted a parliamentary question to the Minister of Commerce and Industry about the hike in the prices of commodities especially food items. He asked if the ministry has the authority to prevent the increase in the prices, adding that he wanted details of this authority if the ministry has it.

Al-Abeid asked about the legal mechanism implemented to prevent the traders from obtaining additional profits through unjustified increase in the prices. He asked if the ministry conducts studies to compare the prices with those in the regional and international countries. Al-Abeid requested for details about the number of recorded violations and the applied penalties in this regard, asking if the ministry is in need of legislative amendment to support its efforts in protecting the consumers.

In addition, MP Osama Al- Shaheen submitted a proposal to the National Assembly concerning the Kuwaitis studying in the United Arab Emirates who used to enjoy health insurance until three years ago when it was suspended. He said the students now have to pay for their healthcare when they are studying in the UAE.

Al-Shaheen suggested including the students in the health insurance plan during the period of their scholarship, stressing that the insurance amounts must be paid either by Ministry of Higher Education or the Civil Service Commission (CSC).

By Saeed Mahmoud Saleh Arab Times Staff

This news has been read 8785 times!

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