Kuwait Times

Published Date: March 04, 2009
By B Izzak, Staff writer

KUWAIT: The National Assembly decided to complete the second and final reading of the new labor law today and agreed that debate on citizens' debt and the economic stimulus bill will take place after two weeks. The new labor law, which grants better rights for laborers, was approved in the first reading in January but several MPs and the government proposed several amendments that are scheduled to be reviewed today.

In a regular session, cut short for lack of quorum, the Assembly decided to debate draft laws on debt relief for citizens on March 17 and asked the legal and legislative and the financial affairs committees to complete reports on the issue. The Assembly will also discuss the economic stimulus package at the same session amid calls by several MPs to speed up its discussion by the financial affairs committee.

MP Ahmad Lari said the bill must be approved as quickly as possible because the global financial crisis is going to impact the country and the bill includes important preventive measures. He said the bill will only solve a part of the economic problem and "we need other legislation to cope with the crisis in addition to raising government capital spending".

Lari warned that waiting too long could result in some banks and companies collapsing and "then the state will be required to pay KD 30 billion, the amount of banks' deposits which the state is guaranteeing". "The country's economy is bleeding and banks and companies are suffering and the real estate sector and the bourse are impatiently awaiting for the bill," he said.

MP Mohammad Al-Saqer said the Assembly should not become an obstacle for passing the bill. "We are not saving a company, we are rescuing the whole economy," he said. He said that a special session should be held next week to debate and pass the law. Head of the financial committee MP Abdulwahed Al-Awadhi said the bill is vital to safeguard national economy and called for consensus over the bill in order to protect the national economy from the fallouts of the crisis.

Also, a number of MPs objected to speaker Jassem Al-Khorafi for not listing the two grillings against the prime minister on yesterday's session, saying this violated the internal charter of the Assembly. Khorafi said that the two grillings have been placed on March 17 session's agenda because they were submitted just before the session and to be listed on the agenda, they should have been submitted at least 48 hours prior to the session.

MPs of the Islamic Constitutional Movement, who filed to quiz the prime minister, warned of what they called attempts to undermine constitutional tools like grillings. They warned against holding grillings' debate in a secret session, saying this would deprive Kuwaiti people from hearing the response to the accusations.

In a related development, senior members of the ruling family have held two key meetings over the past two days to study political developments in light of the two grillings to the prime minister. Ministers from the ruling family attended the meetings which focused on a way out of the situation.

The Assembly also asked the Audit Bureau to investigate if the figures supplied by the government last month on the state financial status were correct and genuine amid allegations they were not. MP Ahmad Al-Saadoun said the figures supplied by the government were misleading and the Audit Bureau must investigate this. He insisted the government had deliberately supplied incorrect information.

But Finance Minister Mustafa Al-Shamali insisted that the figures supplied by the government were correct, but added that these figures keep changing and promised to supply the bureau with all necessary information.