Until 2010, the company, which had spent large sums on feasibility studies, design works and management contracts, had not formally received the land from the Libyan government. The former Libyan regime then cancelled its contract with the Kharafi group. As a result the Kuwaiti firm decided to proceed directly to arbitration based on the Arab League’s Joint Investment Protection Agreement to claim for 90 years of lost revenue.

The arbitration panel awarded Kharafi Group 1.2 billion Libyan dinars (US$930 million) including interest as a final decision that cannot be contested. The award is the first of its kind in the Arab League under the Joint Investment Protection Agreement between Arab countries. – Mid-east.info

The Al-Anbaa newspaper cited a senior interior ministry official as saying that as many as 1,258 foreigners have been deported for traffic violations since a crackdown began about a month ago.

Foreign residents caught driving without a licence, using their cars to carry paying passengers, jumping a red light for a second time, or breaking the speed limit by more than 40 km per hour, can be deported without a court order. The Kuwait Society for Human Rights called on the government to halt the deportations describing them as “oppressive”. “The oppressive measure against expatriates… violates the basic principles of human rights,” it said.

The group warned that the measure could tarnish the state’s image abroad at a time when its human rights record is under scrutiny. Kuwait is home to 2.6 million expatriates who form 68 percent of the country’s 3.8 million population.

Kuwaiti nationals who commit similar offences have their vehicles seized and can be sent to court. Last month, Minister of Social Affairs and Labour Thekra Al-Rasheedi said the state plans to deport around 100,000 expatriates every year for the next decade to reduce the number of foreigners living in the Gulf state by one million. She did not say what measures she would adopt to carry out the plan.

Foreigners need to hold a university degree, earn KD 400 a month and have lived in Kuwait for at least two years to be eligible to apply for a driver’s licence, under a decision issued nearly a decade ago. —AFP

The reports quoted unnamed MSAL sources who indicated that the request was denied “to avoid possible negative impact” of allowing the transfer such as prompting domestic helpers to flee their employers’ houses and seek jobs in the private sector. The MSAL had reportedly hoped to allocate a period starting June 1 during which domestic workers can legalize their status or find jobs in the private sector so that companies are not forced to recruit labor forces from abroad. In other news, Al-Rai reported quoting security sources that police officers have been handed portable fingerprint scanners to be used at checkpoints whenever necessary for verifying anyone’s identity.

The device allows the police to retrieve information from the ministry’s database instantly after a person’s fingerprint is scanned, said the sources who spoke on the condition of anonymity. Suspected individuals are currently sent to the Criminal Evidence General Department for verification of their identity. The sources say that the new system allows policemen to see a suspect ’s record, visa validity and other information “on the spot”, and thus helps the police arrest fugitives and deportees who reenter Kuwait using forged passports.

The sources identified the Friday market, the Jahra Industrial Area, the Abdullah Port, Al-Sulaibiya, Fahaheel, and Jleeb Al-Shuyoukh as the places where the new system is likely to be first introduced. Separately, Undersecretary Assistant for the Labor Department in the MSAL, Jamal Al-Dousary, announced that inspection campaign against outdoor labor during noon hours will be launched on June 1 and will continue till August end.

A statement to this effect was published by Al-Jarida yesterday. Since 2010, the labor department has been running annual campaigns at the construction sites and other places that require outdoor work, in order to ensure that workers are not made to work between 11:00 am and 4:00 pm.

The ministry had released a decision in this regard in 2010 to protect laborers from working under extreme weather conditions. The summer in Kuwait can be very hot and temperatures often reach as high as 50 degrees centigrade. —Al-Rai, Al-Jarida, KUNA

75 held
Meanwhile, a security source said a police campaign resulted in the arrest of a large number of people from several suspicious places. The arrested also included some Kuwaiti citizens. The source said the criminal detectives raided these places on Saturday evening, targeting three residential towers in Salmiya. The operation resulted in the arrest of at least 75 young men and women. These included both citizens and expats.

Parking lot
Another security source said First Deputy Premier and Interior Minister Sheikh Ahmad Al-Humoud issued an order to impound any car that is found in the parking slots for handicapped. The confiscated cars will be kept in the traffic department garage for two months and penalties will be collected, the source added.

Nurseries under scrutiny
Director of Woman and Childhood Department at the Social Affairs and Labor Ministry, Iqbal Al- Rumaideen, said a group of inspectors were asked to supervise the nurseries and report any violations, besides identifying those whose licenses should not be renewed. She said the department increased its role by making surprise visits to the nurseries to check out how they dealt with the children. The visits were also video graphed so that no violation escapes notice. She said that the compensation for nurseries that were closed due to the spread of swine flu will be paid soon.

In another major step, the Supreme Petroleum Council and the Cabinet removed the chief executive officer of national oil company Kuwait Petroleum Corp (KPC) Farouq Al-Zanki and appointed Nezar Al-Adasani in his place. A long-serving oil executive, Adasani was a member of KPC’s board of directors and the chairman of Kuwait Foreign Petroleum Exploration Co, a subsidiary of KPC, before he was surprisingly appointed in the post. The Cabinet also reduced the membership of KPC board of directors and appointed a number of new faces.

The appointments however were not to the liking of a number of MPs. MP Youssef Al-Zalzalah called on the prime minister to suspend the appointments and threatened that if he does not respond, “we will exceed the agreement you have reached with the Assembly speaker”. Last week, Prime Minister Sheikh Jaber Al-Mubarak Al-Sabah and speaker Ali Al-Rashed agreed to work to resolve a political crisis that was triggered when MPs filed to grill the interior and oil ministers and the government then boycotted Assembly sessions. Details of the agreement between the two officials were not published but it was agreed that the government will attend the Assembly session on May 28.

Member of the Public Funds Protection Committee MP Saadoun Hammad said the committee will speed up its investigation in the Dow issue and intends to recommend to refer Oil Minister Hani Hussein to the public prosecution over losses to public funds and payment of the penalty. He said the committee will summon members of the team that negotiated the payment with Dow to hear their testimony on the payment of the penalty and who had asked them to pay it.

MP Safa Al-Hashem described the quick move to make the appointments as “suspicious” and charged that some of the names have close relations to the Muslim Brotherhood and its political arm, the Islamic Constitutional Movement, which she has been targeting for a long time. She said the investigation committees have condemned the oil minister and he should face next week’s grilling, adding that the appointments indicate that the prime minister has been sidelined by the oil minister and two other ministers. MP Faisal Al-Kandari called on the oil minister to stay away from personal matters with regards to appointments and dismissals in the oil sector.

The statements come amid a bitter controversy whether the two grillings should be debated next week or postponed until after a constitutional court ruling on June 16. MP Abdullah Mayouf believed that the oil minister’s grilling will be postponed amid reports that the Cabinet was working on garnering enough support among MPs to vote to delay the grillings for one month.

In another development, the opposition Popular Action Movement yesterday opened registration for members, which marks the body becoming an official popular political movement after it remained for several years as a parliamentary bloc. Registration at several diwaniyas across the country will continue for one month. The movement has already elected some of its office bearers and committees.

By B Izzak, Staff Writer

Mahboula clash
A violent scuffle broke out among a number of expats at Al-Mahboula, security sources said. After receiving a report about it, police reached the site only to find a man already dead in the courtyard of the building. Sources added that a number of expats living on the first floor of the building were involved in the fighting. One of them held the other and threw him out of the apartment, causing him to fall to the ground. He died on the spot. The deceased was identified as a Nepalese national. The culprit was caught and handed over to the concerned authorities, while the body of the deceased was taken for criminal investigation.

Citizen stolen
A Kuwaiti man complained to the officers at the Jaber Al-Ali police station that two people stole stuff from his car that was parked at the cooperative’s parking space in the same area. The thieves broke the side glass of the car and stole KD200 and an expensive watch besides an iPad and sunglasses. When they saw the owner approaching, they ran away but he was able to note down the plate number of their car. A case was filed.

By Hanan Al-Saadoun, Kuwait Times Staff

MPs Dr Yousuf Al-Zalzalah and Safaa Al-Hashem last week filed motions to grill First Deputy Prime Minister and Interior Minister Sheikh Ahmad Al-Hmoud Al-Sabah on allegations of failure to cooperate with the parliament, failure to implement court orders, the state of security and attempting to cover up a Kuwaiti “terror” cell having links with Islamists under trial in the United Arab Emirates.

Meanwhile, MPs Saadoun Hammad, Yaqoub Al-Sane’a and Nasser Al-Merri filed to grill Minister of Oil Hani Husain over the $2.2 billion penalty payment to US-based Dow Chemical, as well as accusations of allowing commercial deals with Israel, not taking any action to prevent the sale of alcohol at Kuwait-owned gas stations in Europe and approving illegal staff promotions at state-owned oil companies.

Meanwhile, Al-Rai reported quoting cabinet insiders that ministers were set to attend next week’s session after missing last week sessions in the wake of the grilling motions. They further indicated that there was a great possibility that the cabinet will pass requests to delay the grillings for three weeks till a cabinet reshuffle “that includes five to six ministers” is carried out and the Constitutional Court pronounces its much anticipated ruling on the voting system on June 16.

Regarding the K-Dow deal, MP Al-Sane’a identified three parties as being responsible for the fallout from the deal. “The first party was the weak cabinet which capitulated to lawmakers’ pressure and the second party is the Popular Action Bloc which blackmailed the government into canceling the deal,” he said in a statement to the press on Saturday.

The Kuwaiti government had called off the deal to establish what was to be known as K-Dow Petrochemicals in late 2008 under pressure from the opposition in the parliament, prompting Dow Chemical to sue for damages as per a penalty clause in the contract and subsequently win $2.2 billion in damages. Meanwhile, Al-Sane’a accused the Muslim Brotherhood, which does not have any official representation in Kuwait but is widely associated with the Islamic Constitutional Movement, of “forcing” the government to put the “unusual” penalty clause in the contract.

In the meantime, Al-Sane’a argued that Kuwait has a chance to reclaim the money paid to Dow Chemical if there was evidence available “to prove foul play on the part of officials overseeing the deal.”. In that regard, he called the government to “form an international investigation committee” in order to look for any evidence of that nature. “The committee should be able to probe the bank accounts of all the parties to the deal the Kuwaiti and the American side. If a manipulation was to be discovered, cases should be filed with American courts to demand refunds,” he said. – Al-Qabas and Al-Rai

Badrya Darwish

What do I benefit as a Kuwaiti from the government’s sudden savage harassment and attack against expats in the country? I have the right to know if it is in my interest. Does that bring me more money? Does it flourish the economy of the country by kicking expats out? Does it solve the unemployment amongst us Kuwaitis? Definitely no.

Let’s face it: the kinds of jobs expats are doing are not our primary target. Why the crazy campaign which everybody has been noticing for four weeks now? It is done to legalize matters. There is difference between legalizing and taking care of the security in any country. All of a sudden the Ministry of Social Affairs and Labour and Ministry of Interior are at war. It seems they are everywhere and they chase expats. Daily the ministry is issuing the number of violators who have been deported.

What an accomplishment! You should be proud of yourselves, guys. It looks like people who are sitting in the ministries do not own businesses themselves and they do not know what harm is done to the market by this sudden attack and chasing of expats, as if they are all criminals. The funniest part is that they are boasting about it by informing us daily on the deportation numbers. But surprisingly, no company or person was punished that brought these souls into Kuwait, took a handsome amount for himself and threw them to wander illegally in the country. Of course, they will not tell us about these people because they have wasta and are influential.

Let’s talk about the ministry that calls for the deportation of “marginal labour”. If they understand the word correctly, this kind of labour is important for any country. If the country is emptied of this labour, all of us will cry when unable to paint our house or fix something. If I need a plumber, do I need to go and recruit a plumber on my sponsorship from a foreign country – be it Bangladesh, India or Pakistan? If anyone needs household matters to be fixed at home, we need labourers.

The porters in the co-op, the airport? Are they all marginal? Can the airport do without them? Can the co-op serve without the porters filling our bags and pulling our trolleys to our cars? Can schools be cleaned without all these janitors (commonly known as farash or farasha)? Can hospitals survive without them? Can any office run without an office boy to make chai (tea) and clean? Can any company run its business without security people?

Can you explain what exactly is the marginal labour you target to kick out? Or maybe because you do not have businesses and you do not care. You just try to convince us that you are more loyal to the country than us and that you are more patriotic by kicking out marginal labour out of Kuwait. This would harm businesses. Can we do without taxi drivers? Or are these also marginal jobs? Are the drivers who drive the buses which 50 percent of expats rely for transportation, called marginal labour too? How about the drivers who take our kids to school?

Do we not need them anymore? Can you call us, the people who have businesses and discuss it with us, because it has an impact on our operations. We are not government employees. Our salaries are not secured in the banks in the end of the month. It is easy for you to sit and invent new rules without properly studying their impact on the country. Are you trying to convince us that unemployment among Kuwaitis can be solved by doing all of that? There is a thin line between harassment and legalizing and organizing the labour force.

By Badrya Darwish
badrya_d@kuwaittimes.net

Labeed Abdal

The clear warning by the Ministry of Social Affairs telling the companies to ensure that salaries were paid on time was definitely needed as any responsible employer must ensure there were no bad files and the workers are paid in time.

It is good to ensure that both sides, the employees and the employers, are governed properly and regulated as per law. Furthermore, in all cases, we need to ensure that the law abiding person or company must not suffer due to the bad eggs in any basket. It pains one to see good individuals or companies suffering wrongly.

The regulations, when applied properly, will ensure that the labour forces will be able to come into Kuwait lawfully, stay here or return as per law and residency permits, without turning it into an event. I think His Highness the Amir was absolutely correct when he mentioned that in certain ministries, the corruption was so rampant that it would require several camels to dredge it out.

Surely, we need the new parliament to apply certain correctives, especially after the incidents that may affect our international financial reputation.

The approach should be two-pronged – weeding out the old who were part of the malfunctioning, and nurturing the young people who are good so that they can assume senior and topmost positions.

It is everyone’s responsibility now since new upcoming mega projects are in the pipeline and these will definitely reflect positively on the investors and the business communities besides underlining the power of the working class. Employers only stand to earn profits and will earn even more, thanks to the huge new projects.

Thus, there is a need to delay salaries of the employees; instead, they should use the money lying in the banks.

Achieving sound profits can be a good sign of success in the competitive market, and it makes little sense to put on hold the teams working and building these projects.

By Labeed Abdal
labeed@kuwaittimes.net

Coming from a leader, such a response not only underlined that we are forced to live with this problem, but it also showed that we had no desire to resolve it once and for all.

Otherwise, is it realistic to depend on only people’s conscience when it comes to displaying commitment and sincerity in their work, or to rely on their sense of religiosity?

What if someone’s conscience had taken a permanent leave of absence? What if someone’s sense of religion was weaker than the web woven by a spider?

Then are we supposed to rest our oars and only pray to Allah that things become better?

Should we simply accept that there is no possibility to improve things?

Must we shut our eyes towards a lax employee who does not even know what his job is?

Or another who sleeps peacefully at home after making one of the expatriates agree to carry out his duties?

Should we overlook someone whose work is pathetically slow or who does not perform properly because he is in a foul mood?

Can we ignore an employee who comes directly to work after spending a long night in the diwaniya, and deals with people as if he is standing guard at a sewer opening?

Should we ignore a selfish employee who goes missing from his work 30 minutes before he is to leave, all because he wants to pursue his interest in the stock exchange, or to tend to private matters or refresh his mood by making a visit to a cafÈ or a mall?

Why should we have to do any of this? I am talking here in response to what the concerned official had to say.

They have to take steps that will change the employees’ view towards work and its value. Coming from an official about things being in such a sorry state of affairs, it is clear that we need to quickly salvage whatever can be saved. We should be taking the initiative, like others, to solve the problems quickly instead of leaving them to linger and accumulate at the expense of our interests and nerves.

The employees who hate work and commitment are there in any country, and Kuwait is no exception. The only difference is that other countries do not let a state of laissez faire continue and instead hold such employees to account. Let us not go too far looking for examples.

The UAE is next door and it too has similar circumstances, but we do not see such a state of affairs in the employment system there. The reason is very simple: supervision ensures that things are not left to accidents. There is a keen focus on good work in the UAE. The concept of the “secret shopper” helps in ensuring that as it is used to catch malingering employees and workers. Such specially appointed employees frequent the working places pretending to be ordinary citizens who have a certain interest. They judge through such a method the others’ performance and commitment levels.

This is one of the reasons the UAE enjoys an outstanding status in many fields, in which it received international prizes. As for us, we are still captive to unfair Wasta culture and the excuse that someone is right because “this is our son.” No wonder, we are always in the back row. — Al-Watan

By Aziza Al-Mufarrej