Info minister defends recent recruitments

MP Mubarak Al-Hajraf Info ministry and Minister Hind Al-Sabeeh

KUWAIT: MP Mubarak Al-Hajraf said that he met recently with Minister of Social Affairs and Labor Hind Al-Sabeeh, who told him that she is fully aware of the demographic imbalance problem and the to amend the labor law and protect Kuwait against visa traffickers.

Hajraf said that he agreed to the statements made by his colleague Safaa Al-Hashem concerning reducing the number of expats in the country within 4-5 years because the labor market is flooded with unnecessary workers. He also criticized the statements made by Egyptian Minister of Manpower and Immigration Mohamed Safaan, who recently announced plans to find jobs for Egyptians in Kuwait. Hajraf noted that it was unacceptable that foreign embassies in Kuwait have been interfering in domestic matters and violating local laws for their people's interests. "Kuwait is the only GCC state where expats do not respect the laws," he underlined.

Separately, Hajraf said that citizens with severe and medium disabilities will be able to do their transactions online without having to visit the disabled authority. He also noted that during Minister Sabeeh, she told him that she closely watches the disabled authority's performance and would never allow delinquency.

Info ministry

Meanwhile, and in response to parliamentary inquiries about the number of citizens working for the information ministry versus expats, Minister of Information and Minister of State for Youth Affairs Sheikh Salman Al-Humoud Al-Sabah said 87 percent of the ministry's employees are Kuwaitis. He also explained that only 311 expats were appointed with contracts, while 897 were hired on temporary one-year contracts that are only renewable upon approval from the Civil Service Commission (CSC). "These workers get no incentives or indemnities," he said. Sheikh Salman explained that the same policy is followed at the news and political programs sector. "The same applies to KUNA," he added, noting that the total number of expats working for it was 146, while only 75 worked for the National Council for Culture, Arts and Letters (NCCAL).

Housing units

Responding to a parliamentary inquiry, Minister of Housing and Minister of State for Services Yasser Abul said the Public Authority for Housing Welfare contracted local qualified companies to build housing units in Jaber Al-Ahmed, Sabah Al-Ahmed and West Sulaibikhat cities, and that foreign companies were only hired for South Mutlaa City.

Ultimatum

The Cabinet's economic affairs committee gave the Ministry of Commerce and Industry one month to take proper measures to reorganize the construction material subsidies paid to citizens. Notably, the commerce ministry had prepared a full study under former minister Yousef Al-Ali to organize the KD 30,000 construction material subsidies stated in law number 19/2014. Statistics issued by the commerce ministry said 54 percent of the subsidies paid by the ministry were allocated for construction materials, with KD 62 million during the first half of 2016-2017.

Air force division

Kuwait Municipality Director Ahmed Al-Manfouhi approved a request by the Defense Ministry to allocate a site to build a new air force division over a total area of 6,250,000 square meters north of the country.  Manfouhi also approved a request by the Ministry of Health to allocate a plot to be used as a helipad at Farwaniya Hospital.

By A Saleh