KUWAIT: Reflection of clouds and the National Assembly's building on the Arabian Gulf's waters near Shuwaikh Beach. - KUNA photo

KUWAIT: The National Assembly budgets committee said yesterday that the number of residence permits granted to expatriate had increased which resulted in a rise in the number of unemployed Kuwaitis. The panel said the conclusion was reached by a field survey on the numbers of manpower in the country conducted by the Central Statistics Department.

The committee made the remarks while discussing the 2018/2019 budget for the Manpower Authority and its final statements for the 2017/2017 fiscal year. Lawmakers have been pressing the government to speed up replacing expatriate employees in government jobs to create jobs for nationals. The Assembly has even set up a special committee to study such issues.

In another development, seven lawmakers signed a letter to the National Assembly calling for an official probe into alleged government payments to MPs. The letter wants the National Assembly to inform the Anti-Corruption Authority to launch an official investigation into statements by MP Ahmad Al-Fadhl that the government will pay MPs before the summer.

The statements were exposed in a video posted on social media and shows Fadhl telling someone the government will be making the payments before the summer. Fadhl had acknowledged making the remarks but explained that the payments were intended for needy Kuwaitis in which lawmakers act as middlemen to secure the financial assistance. He also said that many Kuwaiti lawmakers regularly do the same and secure payments from various government bodies to their voters.

Later, opposition MP Riyadh Al-Adasani threatened to grill the prime minister unless the government issues a statement explaining the issue. The statement was issued on Monday following the Cabinet weekly meeting in which the government distanced itself from paying to lawmakers and insisting that any aid to citizens is done through legal channels. Adasani said yesterday that he would support any move to investigate the issue by the Anti-Corruption Authority but he also called for the Audit Bureau to probe the issue.

By B Izzak