MP Saleh Ashour

KUWAIT: MP Saleh Ashour was upset following the end of the debate of his grilling against Minister of Social Affairs and Labor Hind Al-Subaih yesterday, when three lawmakers changed their minds after initially telling him that they would sign a no-confidence motion against the minister. The three MPs' change of heart came after a 'senior government official' approached them and requested that they do not sign the request to file the motion, informed sources said. Subsequently, the three, who had already signed the request, withdrew their names in the last moments, the sources said.

'Kuwaitization'

The Civil Service Commission (CSC) recently received official letters from different ministries, requesting the hiring of Kuwaitis in place of recently laid off expatriates, said informed sources. These measures come within the government's plan to reduce the number of expatriate employees in the public sector as well as employing citizens already awaiting vacancies, the sources added.

Price increases

The Ministry of Commerce and Industry is scheduled to study a letter sent by Dr Saad Al-Shabo, Chairman of the Union of Consumer Cooperative Societies (UCCS), in which he demands suspending all new price increase requests made in various coop societies, as well as reconsidering some prices that were increased when oil prices were high.

By A Saleh