By B Izzak
KUWAIT: MPs Saleh Ashour and Khalil Al-Saleh submitted a proposal calling on the government to raise the minimum monthly pension for retired citizens to KD 1,000. A number of lawmakers have said that some retired citizens draw pensions as low as KD 400, which is not enough to face the rising cost of living.
Meanwhile, MP Abdulkarim Al-Kandari said on Sunday the National Assembly's legal and legislative committee approved a draft law presented by him calling to replace with Kuwaitis all government jobs occupied by expats within one year, if possible. Kandari said the legal committee sent the draft law to the manpower development committee to study the bill and ways to implement it.
The bill calls on all ministries and government agencies to appoint Kuwaitis to replace all expats employed by them within one year from the passage of the law. The bill however grants more time for the replacement if the government body cannot find a citizen to take the job of an expat. The government employs more than 400,000 people, around 80 percent of them citizens and the rest expats and a few stateless people.
The bill requires that around 80,000 expat employees be replaced with Kuwaitis, preferably within one year, and more if no citizens are ready to take the job. It states that government ministries and departments should advertise for vacant jobs, and if no Kuwaitis apply for the vacancies, the bodies can appoint an expat for just one year, which can be renewed if no Kuwaiti applies again.
MPs in the new assembly have already submitted proposals and bills calling to create more jobs for citizens at the expense of expats. The legal and legislative committee meanwhile lifted the parliamentary immunity of MPs Obaid Al-Wasmi and Hamid Al-Bathali to face court cases.