MP Jamaan Al-Harbash outlined the group’s objections to the Rafale deal. "Based on the army documents, the Rafale is technically inferior to some other planes because it belongs to the fourth generation while manufacturers are already into the fifth generation," he said. The plane is very expensive and so are its spare parts, he said. "The plane also has serious defects that have prevented any country in the world to buy it." Harbash said the group has no animosity against France, but it is only objecting
to the deal, which will involve "squandering public funds in a massive way".
Mislem, Harbash and Waleed Al-Tabtabaei, who jointly addressed the press conference, said that they have sent several questions to the minister of defense, who so far has declined to answer. Harbash said that the Audit Bureau, which last November was asked to investigate three arms deals, including the Rafale one, has written back to the Assembly saying that it cannot conduct the probe because the defense ministry declined to provide it with the necessary documents. Mislem said that there are suspicions of
profiteering and corruption in the deal. Commenting on the announcement, spokesman of the Popular Action Bloc MP Musallam Al-Barrak said his bloc will support any grilling over the Rafale jets.
But the visiting chief of staff of the French armed forces, Admiral Edouard Guillaud, defended the Rafale as one of the best warplanes in the world, saying negotiations over the deal are proceeding in complete transparency. "France has proposed that Kuwait replace the old Mirage jets with the advanced Rafale and the Kuwaiti government asked to study the offer," Guillaud was quoted as saying by the official KUNA news agency. Guillaud said Kuwait has sent experts to France for a close assessment of the jets,
adding that Paris will also make a proposal to sell the plane to the United Arab Emirates.
In another development, the legal and legislative committee yesterday approved a draft law stipulating to naturalize up to 4,000 people in 2010, Tabtabaei said. He added that the committee made some amendments to the proposal. Originally, the proposal stated that all the 4,000 must be bedoons, or stateless Arabs, and at least half of them should be servicemen. But the committee made the naturalization open to all those who fulfill the conditions, Tabtabaei said.
The panel also approved a draft law allowing citizens to build diwaniyas at their homes against paying fees and within certain regulations. The committee also approved an amendment to the health insurance bill for expatriates, stating that the insurance will cover the cost of repatriating the dead body of the insured to their home country.
Meanwhile, MP Barrak yesterday responded to criticism by Speaker Jassem Al-Khorafi over claims made by Barrak that the speaker had once misquoted the Amir. The controversy erupted last week when Barrak and other members of the Popular Action Bloc boycotted an informal meeting of MPs called by Khorafi to convey a message from HH the Amir. Barrak said that conveying messages is not part of Khorafi’s constitutional powers, adding that he once misquoted the Amir when he hinted that the Amir wanted to dissolve
parliament unconstitutionally.
Khorafi rebuked Barrak saying that he had never made that statement, even to MPs at an informal meeting. But Barrak yesterday reiterated his claims and challenged Khorafi to order transcribing the recording of that informal meeting to settle the argument. He recalled that following a meeting between Khorafi and editors of the local dailies, he ordered his office staff to transcribe the meeting details and send it to the newspapers. Barrak said that later, Khorafi’s office staff called the newspapers and as
ked them to delete a sentence in which Khorafi said that "the power of unconstitutional dissolution is in the hands of the Amir only". Al-Jarida newspaper refused and published the original text, he said.
