‘Torture’ draws Speaker bedside

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KUWAIT CITY, June 6: National Assembly Speaker Marzouq Al-Ghanim, who was accompanied by Kuwait Sports Club President Khalid Ali Al-Ghanim, visited a citizen — Abdullah Fahd Tami — at the hospital to personally look into his health condition and ensure that he is recovering well.

Earlier, it was reported that Tami was rushed to the hospital after he was allegedly tortured during investigations at the Criminal Investigations General Department. In a relevant development, MP Fayez Al-Jomhour praised the decision of Interior Minister Sheikh Ahmad Nawaf Al- Ahmad to open investigations into the case of Tami; indicating he forwarded queries to the minister about the issue. He asked if the interrogation rooms at the investigation departments in the Ministry of Interior — Criminal Investigations General Department, police stations, State Security and others — are equipped with surveillance cameras to ensure the investigations are conducted fairly and transparently. He demanded for clarification about the alleged torture, physical and verbal humiliation that Tami experienced during investigations. If this is true, he wants to know the steps taken to punish those behind the incident and to prevent its recurrence.

Meanwhile, MP Abdulkareem Al-Kandari asked His Highness the Prime Minister Sheikh Sabah Al-Khalid about the reasons behind the non-issuance of the executive regulations for Demographic Imbalance Law No. 74/2020 until now although the law was enacted more than one year ago.

MP Khalid Al-Obaidi forwarded queries to Minister of Commerce and Industry Fahd Al-Shrean about the information he obtained that vehicle insurance companies are planning to increase the insurance fee from KD45 to KD100. He wants to know the total number of these insurance companies at present; number of companies that the ministry closed in the last three years; reasons behind the previous decision of the ministry to set the vehicle insurance fee at KD1 and punish companies which charge lower than KD19; measures taken against the officials of vehicle insurance companies who claimed that the current insurance fee is not fair; details about the potential categorization of vehicle insurance based on certain factors like the vehicle’s brand, driver’s age and his traffic record; and if the Consumer Protection Society and other concerned entities were consulted in this regard.

MP Ahmed Al-Hamad asked Minister of Health Dr Khalid Al-Saeed if there are monkeypox cases in the country, measures adopted by the Health Ministry to discover such cases, and how the ministry deals with travelers coming from countries with monkeypox cases. He demanded for a clear emergency plan in case of monkeypox outbreak in the country.

MP Hamdan Al-Azmi forwarded queries to Minister of State for Municipal, Communications and Information Technology Affairs Rana Al-Fares about the authorities granted to the deputy director general for Administrative, Legal and Financial Affairs at the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) who is now serving as acting director of DGCA. He wants to know if the latter is authorized to sign checks and approve financial contracts. He requested for a copy of the curriculum vitae of the acting director, as well as the relevant information like the date when he started serving as acting director and if the appointment is in line with the Civil Services Commission’s (CSC) regulations in this regard. He asked if the acting director has been accused of misappropriating public funds. If yes, he demanded for copies of related correspondences and measures taken against the acting director. He asked if the Ministry of Finance corresponded with DGCA to stress the importance of questioning those proven to have committed such violations. He inquired if there is conflict of interests in combining the Financial Affairs Department director post with the deputy director general for Administrative, Legal and Financial Affairs position; if the acting director was subjected for investigation according to the directive of former ministers; if such investigations were suspended and justifications if the response is in the affirmative.

MP Hassan Jawhar asked Minister of Education and Higher Education Dr Ali Fahd Al-Mudaf when the Public Authority for Applied Education and Training (PAAET) published the advertisement for the recruitment of lecturers and trainers; conditions for every position; date of submitting the applications; if the application was online or in person; number of applicants at the College of Basic Education; criteria adopted by every department to review the documents attached to the applications; number of meetings held by the Recruitment Committee; if all members of the Recruitment Committee at the Department of Social Studies in the College of Basic Education reviewed the applications; and if any of the members have resigned in objection to violation of regulations.

Moreover, MP Khalil Al-Saleh urged the government to lay down short and long term plans for addressing the unprecedented price hike issue, in addition to supporting Kuwaiti families by increasing the cost of living allowance and other measures. He pointed out the unprecedented price hike started during the Covid-19 crisis, which negatively affected the national food security. He stressed the need for the government to stop such unprecedented price hike and regulate the prices of commodities and services. On the other hand, the parliamentary Budgets and Final Accounts Committee on Monday discussed the budget of Kuwait National Petroleum Corporation (KNPC) for fiscal 2022/2023 with representatives of KNPC, Ministry of Finance, Financial Controllers Bureau (FCB) and State Audit Bureau (SAB). In addition, MP Osama Al-Shaheen submitted a proposal to assign the Public Authority for Minors Affairs (PAMA), Public Authority for Social Affairs (PASA) and Secretariat General of Awqaf in cooperation with the National Council for Culture, Arts and Letters (NCCAL) and Kuwait Heritage Society, to reconstruct and manage the Mubarakiya Market. By Saeed Mahmoud Saleh Arab Times Staff

This news has been read 21276 times!