Lawyer sues education minister over faulty air conditioners

KUWAIT: Head of Kuwait Domestic Help Offices' Union Khalid Al-Dakhnan expressed appreciation for the foreign ministry's role in canceling a decision the Philippines made in June, and by which Kuwaiti recruitment offices were asked to place $10,000 in escrow to allow them bring in helpers from the Philippines. The efforts exerted by the union and foreign ministry had an effective role in canceling the decision, he said, and hoped coordination will continue to open new sources for labor recruitment and reduce pressure on the Philippines.

On another subject, Dakhnan said that the union fully supports the administrative measures to develop work at the Public Authority for Manpower (PAM). Speaking to the press following a meeting with PAM's Acting Deputy Director Abdullah Al-Mutoutah, he said that the meeting discussed issuing visas and submitting applications online in order to make it easier for those who want to bring in domestic helpers from abroad, adding that online transactions are faster, safer and more accurate.

Air conditioners

The Prosecutor General received a complaint against the Minister of Education and the ministry's undersecretary over the broken down air conditioners in schools, which had suspended studying at a number of schools in Kuwait. "I submitted a complaint against the education ministry because of negligence in air conditioners' maintenance in some schools," lawyer Mohammad Al-Humaidi said yesterday. "This is a violation of the child's law, and also constitutes waste of public funds."

KD 11 million

The ministries of housing and services lost 179 cases worth KD 11 million in past 10 years, of which Kuwait Ports Authority (KPA) lost over KD 8 million while the Public Authority for Housing Welfare (PAHW) was sentenced to pay KD 2 million, Minister of Housing and Minister of Services Affairs Jenan Bushehri said. The number of cases in courts involving the services affairs ministry (formerly known as the ministry of communications) is 4,233, the minister said, adding cases involving the PAHW are 960, the Kuwait Credit Bank are 3,582, KPA are 627 and the Directorate General of Civil Aviation are 190 cases. All departments won a total of 1,018 cases during the above mentioned period, the minister said.

By A Saleh