MPs also overwhelmingly passed a second law to encourage foreign investment inflow into Kuwait and a third legislation giving social and children allowance to Kuwaiti female employees married to non-Kuwaitis provided their husbands do not get it.
The law for supervising commodities and limiting the prices of certain commodities when needed was passed in the first reading as MPs demanded a two-week period to introduce some amendments before approving it in the second and final round.
The law gives the government the required authority to prevent cheating and artificial increase in prices of commodities, especially essential consumer commodities.
MPs however said the law is not sufficient to provide complete protection to consumers. MP Khaled Al-Adwah said the value of the dinar is slipping and prices in Kuwait are higher than in neighbouring Gulf states, which is evidence that there is no sufficient supervision over prices.
MP Taher Al-Failakawi said Kuwait’s market and economy “are not entirely free as we claim” because customs do not allow anyone to import a commodity that has an agent in Kuwait, saying if a citizens buys a vehicle from Saudi Arabia, for example, the agent in Kuwait normally refuses to carry out maintenance or repairs. These practices are in breach of the constitution and the law, he said.
MP Yacoub Al-Sane said the legislation deals with monitoring prices and does not talk about monopoly, and accordingly is incomplete.
MP Adnan Abdulsamad described the law as very important but said the problem in Kuwait lies in the lack of competition because of monopoly by influential cartels and the fact that the anti-trust (competition) law is not implemented.
The Assembly also passed a law that would compensate Kuwaiti women married to foreign spouses for social and children allowances although the government clearly said it will not accept the law. A majority of MPs described the law as just and fair but some others like MP Nawaf Al-Fuzai said the law encourages Kuwaiti women to marry foreigners.
The government failed to delay the debate and approval of the law but MPs rejected the attempt. Later, the Assembly rejected another attempt to remove the children’s allowance from the law.
The Assembly rejected a proposal to hold a special debate on statements by senior ruling family member Sheikh Ahmad Sabah Al-Salem Al-Sabah, the son of the late Amir about tribes and the current political crisis in Kuwait.
The Assembly meets today in a special session to study the problem of unemployment in Kuwait and the measures taken by the government to face the problem.
In another development, the criminal court yesterday sentenced Saudi tweeter Abdullah Al-Mutairi to five years in prison in absentia over charges that he insulted HH the Amir and undermined his authorities.
The court also ordered him to be deported after serving the jail term which Mutairi can object to whenever he faces the court. In addition, he can appeal the ruling to the court of appeals and the supreme court, whose verdicts are final.
