By B Izzak
KUWAIT: Top officials from the interior ministry on Wednesday met with their counterparts from the ministries of communications and justice to coordinate a linkup to ensure that expats pay their bills before leaving the country. The interior ministry last week told expats, who constitute almost 70 percent of the population, to settle all their traffic tickets before they can leave the country.
With the exception of fines for speeding and parking in spaces for the handicapped, which must be paid at traffic offices, all other tickets can be paid online or at exit points including airports. The measure was imposed on Aug 19. Electricity and water bills have been added to the list and the measure will become effective on Sept 1. No expat will be allowed to leave the country before paying their electricity bills.
The purpose of the meeting on Wednesday was to make similar arrangements to force expats to pay bills to the ministries of communications and justice before being allowed to leave Kuwait. The government plans to extend the measure to all other ministries so expats must pay all utility bills before departing the country. Meanwhile, MP Jarrah Al-Fouzan on Wednesday asked the commerce and industry minister about the reasons behind a strong hike in consumer prices and what measures the ministry is taking to counter that.
He asked the minister to provide him with the inflation rate recorded by the ministry this year and its comparison with inflation rates in the past five years. The lawmaker asked for the number of teams monitoring prices in the country and how many shops have been caught violating the law and were fined as a result. The information ministry meanwhile has invited journalists and all those concerned with the information industry for a workshop next month to debate a draft law aimed at regulating the information sector.
The ministry move came after a number of MPs strongly lashed out at the proposed legislation, insisting they will oppose any attempt to impose restrictions on the freedom of press and speech. MP Marzouq Al-Ghanem on Wednesday announced on his X (formerly Twitter) account that attempts were underway to hack his social media accounts. He advised followers not to trust anything that may be published on his accounts until the attempt has been beaten and those behind the attempt are identified. He did not elaborate on the identity of the potential hackers.