Roumi decries ‘intolerable’ failures • PM says security forces on alert

KUWAIT: The government acted swiftly yesterday following massive devastation caused by heavy rains that shut many key roads and forced the government to declare a public holiday.

The government sacked head of the public roads authority Ahmad Al-Hassan and referred the undersecretary of the ministry of public works Awatef Al-Ghuneim for retirement following the ministry’s failure to face the impact of the heavy rains.

Minister of Public Works Hussam Al-Roumi later issued a decree suspending two assistant undersecretaries for two months for “public interest” - assistant undersecretary for maintenance engineering Mohammad bin Nekhi and assistant undersecretary for health engineering Abdelmohsen Al-Enezi.

Roumi, after holding an emergency meeting held with municipality directors and representatives from the traffic and fire departments, said he will not remain silent over what happened. He added that a neutral investigation committee has been formed to probe the causes of the ‘intolerable’ failures of the road network and sanitation system, indicating those responsible will be held accountable.

Kuwait was lashed overnight by heavy torrential rains caused by a massive thunderstorm and strong lightning, in which several key roads were deluged. HH the Prime Minister Sheikh Jaber Mubarak Al- Hamad Al-Sabah said yesterday security forces are ready to deal with any emergencies. In comments broadcast on state television, the prime minister assured the nation of immediate action in order to cope with the adverse weather conditions gripping the country. As he toured the interior ministry to assess the level of preparedness of security forces, he revealed that the decision to declare yesterday a public holiday was necessary given the scope of the disaster.