MP Saad Al-Bous said penalties applied against expatriates should be proportionate to the violations they commit without the need for rash and unfair decisions that may adversely impact Kuwaiti democratic system. The lawmaker said that before deporting expatriates for grave traffic offenses, they should be given at least three opportunities before deporting them.
He also said that with regards to laborers recruited by visa traders, these people should not be deported and instead be given enough time to legalize their stay by obtaining residence permits from other companies, because these laborers have committed no mistake as they entered the country through a proper work permit.
In this case, visa traders should be punished and not the laborers who normally pay their savings to come to Kuwait and then when they arrive we force them to leave. “This is illogical to punish the victim and spare the perpetrators” he said in a statement. Bous urged Minister of Social Affairs and Labor Thekra Al-Rasheedi not to take rash decisions that may contribute to distorting Kuwait’s image abroad, especially with regards to deporting laborers who are found to work for employers other than their sponsors, adding that these people should be allowed to transfer their residence permits.
He said that according to statements by officials from the Ministry of Social Affairs and Labor, there are around 1,000 paper companies and if we suppose each company employs around 10 expats on average, then that means we have to deport about 10,000 workers. Instead of deporting them and recruiting new workers from abroad, it is better to allow them to legalize their stay and benefit from their experience, Bous said.
The lawmaker’s statements come amid reports that the cost of recruiting workers or domestic helpers from outside has jumped sharply due to the minister’s statements and measures adopted by authorities. Rasheedi said two months ago, that Kuwait plans to deport around 100,000 expatriates every year over the next 10 years to reduce the number of foreigners by one million people. Foreigners currently number 2.6 million against 1.2 million Kuwaitis.
But the minister later explained that the decision aims at organizing the expatriate workforce in the country, adding that it does not mean having to deport people. The minister has not revealed what measures will be followed to apply the decision. In addition, the traffic department has deported more than 300 expatriate drivers for committing grave traffic offenses like breaking the red traffic light for a second time, speeding, using private car to carry passengers and driving without a driver’s license.
In another development, MPs yesterday strongly lashed out at the payment of $ 2.2 billion to Dow Chemical as a penalty for scrapping a $ 17.4-billion joint venture in December 2008. MP Saadoun Hammad charged that a delegation by Kuwait Petroleum Corp that went to the United States apparently did not negotiate with Dow Chemical about the issue but only made the payment and came back.
He said a parliamentary panel probing the deal will recommend that people who benefited from the deal – or were responsible for the whole issue should be interrogated by the public prosecution. MP Khaled Al-Adwah however wondered why the payment was made to the company before two probe panels – one by the government and the other by the Assembly, have not yet completed their work.
MP Faisal Al-Duwaisan said MPs will demand in the next session to form a new probe committee to investigate the whole issue. Some MPs and former opposition MPs held the government of former Prime Minister Sheikh Nasser Mohammad Al-Ahmad Al-Sabh responsible for the huge fine because it accepted the penalty provision and then scrapped the deal while aware of the penalty.
