MPs retain immunity
By Abubakar A. Ibrahim Arab Times Staff
KUWAIT CITY: The Legislative and Legal Affairs Committee in the National Assembly has rejected the request of the Public Prosecution to lift the immunity of MPs Mubarak Al-Harees and Mohammed Al-Hadiya who were accused of participating in primaries during the previous parliamentary elections.
Earlier, the Public Prosecution sent two separate letters on lifting the immunity of MPs – the first concerns Al-Harees and Al-Hadiya in order to investigate them in relation to a lawsuit filed by the Interior Ministry which accused them of participating in primaries in the First Constituency while the second letter is about the participation of MP Mubarak Al-Hajraf in primaries in the Fourth Constituency.
On the other hand, the Finance and Economic Affairs Committee on Monday discussed with Minister of Social Affairs and Labor Hind Al-Sabeeh the proposal to amend Civil Service Commission (CSC) decree number 15/1969 on the strategic alternative to the salary scale.
Committee Rapporteur MP Safa Al-Hashim disclosed the CSC explained many points and this subject has taken too much time due to disagreements between some parties, indicating the oil sector and National Guard have rejected the idea of unifying the salary scale for certain professions.
She said the finance minister has appointed a third party – a tripartite consulting firm – to study the strategic alternative, adding that the firm’s officials are advisers of the minister including the chairman of Public-Private Partnership Authority and another person who ran a privatization company. She voiced objection to the idea of the company preparing the strategic alternative strategy which means going back to square one. She added the representatives of the company were invited to the committee meeting slated for May 21, 2017 to hear their points of view
She went on to say the committee also discussed the proposed transformation of Kuwait Airways Corporation into (KAC) into a stock company. She disclosed the minister of social affairs attended the meeting, during which the latter was asked to shed light on the appointment of the last board of directors and chief executive officer (CEO) in the midst of legal suspicions.
She confirmed the minister assured the committee that this is just temporary until the new CEO is announced officially.
She also quoted the minister as saying that the government is gearing towards the third proposal to allocate 51 percent shares of the company for government agencies, 44 percent for public subscription and three percent for Kuwaiti workers in the company. She revealed the minister requested for a grace period of two weeks.
Meanwhile, MP Ahmed Nabil Al-Fadel has presented a proposal to divide work and class schedules at Kuwait University–Shuwaikh campus into two periods. He explained that traffic congestion in Shuwaikh is frequent especially in the morning and this negatively affects students considering the working hours start at 8:00 am.
He suggested a partial solution to the traffic problem, indicating classes for new students will be from 9:00 am to 1:00 pm while those for old students should start from 2:00 pm. He said the university had previously taken a decision to schedule classes from 8:00 am to 8:00 pm.
© Arab Times 2017
