KUWAIT: Former MP Musallam Al-Barrak yesterday finished undergoing medical tests at the Chest Hospital in the Sabah medical area in Shuwaikh and was returned to prison. Results of the tests have yet to be released. The firebrand populist ex -lawmaker is currently serving a two year jail sentence for insulting His Highness the Amir. Two photos of Al-Barrak walking through the hospital after the tests showed him surrounded by special forces. He was escorted to the hospital in handcuffs.
MP Hamdan Al-Azmi said that the transfer of Al-Barrack in such a high profile way with so much State Security was akin to the treatment of prisoners in the Guantanamo Bay prison and that the government was being provocative. Azmi described the measures as ‘stricter than those followed with Gitmo detainees’. “The government has been proving on a daily basis that it is incapable of being up to responsibilities and only shows off by ‘bullying’ the Kuwaiti people,” he said, noting that the current government had taken its full opportunity and that it was time it stepped down because Kuwait needs a stronger one capable of handling and solving the country’s problems.
Municipal Council weekly meeting
The Municipal Council yesterday held its weekly meeting which lasted for five hours and was headed by chairman Muhalhal Al-Khaled. Speaking on the occasion, the council member and head of the legal and financial affairs committee, Mane’ Al-Ajmi wondered about who was responsible for closing down Al-Qurain markets, especially when the municipality lost some related cases. He also expected that officials responsible for what he described as a ‘financial crisis’ would be prosecuted.
Discussing the telecom towers issue, Al-Ajmi stressed that the committee totally rejects installing them on coops and in residential areas because of health-related concerns expressed by the health ministry. The council also agreed to removing piles of used tires from Mina Abdullah to Erhayyia area within a month.
Further, the council rejected a proposal to name the area to the north east of Suliabikhat ‘Al-Kout’. It also refused changing the locations allotted for a power generation and water distillation plant in Nuwaiseeb to avoid violating the border security barriers in the south.
In addition, the council approved a proposal to name the main road in the diplomatic area in Mishref after the late Saudi Prince Saud Al-Faisal Al Saud. The council also approved a request made by the industry authority to increase the heights of the hotels being built in the fourth phase of the Avenues project in Al-Rai by 50 percent, noting that the project had become a major touristic attraction in Kuwait.
Violating coops may lose boards
The head of the prices committee at the Union of Consumer Cooperative Societies (UCCS), Sami Al-Munayyekh warned that coops that repeatedly violated the union’s price-related directives might face the dissolution of their boards among other censures. He also noted that his committee’s task in the process was to make the concerned reports and refer them to ministry of social affairs and labor.
Speaking at the sidelines of an inspection he led at Hatteen Coop, Munayyekh called for granting UCCS inspectors wider powers. He also said that Hatteen coop was fined for not following the prices directives in seven items and stressed that a report would be accordingly submitted. Further, Munayyekh added that coops would also be fined for reducing prices without permission from the ministry of commerce the way they do during promotional sales.
By Meshaal Al-Enezi
