By B Izzak

KUWAIT: A committee overseeing health conditions at Kuwait Municipality yesterday has decided to scrap the desert camping season and election tents in precautionary measures to contain the spread of the coronavirus cases. However, an official at the Municipality hotline confirmed to Kuwait Times that no official announcement has been made so far in this regard.

Camping season normally starts early November every year and lasts for five months. People are allowed to erect camps at designated areas in the desert during the winter season when temperature drops sharply in contrast to the scorching heat of the summer. Candidates contesting parliamentary elections normally erect huge tents where they host citizens to explain their election programs and offer lavish meals in honor of potential voters.

The municipality said that its decisions were based on recommendations by the health ministry and both will be reviewed later. The ban on election tents will be reviewed after the Amiri decree inviting people for election is issued while the camping season decision will be reviewed on December 15. Parliamentary election is expected to be held in the last part of November.

In the meantime, MP Saleh Ashour yesterday called for including the so-called Abdali cell in any national reconciliation in order to avoid deeper divisions in the society. The lawmaker was referring to about 25 Kuwaitis, many of whom were sentenced to lengthy jail terms for hiding large quantities of weapons, spying for Iran and Lebanese militia Hezbollah and plotting attacks in Kuwait. MPs and activists believe the conviction was not substantiated with material proof and have repeatedly called for pardoning them.

"Any national reconciliation that does not include the Abdali cell case, the online activists and the cancellation of electronic crimes law will not strengthen national unity. It will rather marginalize a large section of the society and ultimately, divisions will continue and nothing will happen" Ashour said on Twitter.

The lawmaker also said that meetings held by His Highness the Deputy Amir and Crown Prince Sheikh Nawaf Al-Ahmad Al-Jaber Al-Sabah should include all sections and groups of the society so as all sides will express their opinions to lay out the ground for a new era. He was referring to meetings held by His Highness Sheikh Nawaf Al with a number of leading figures including Ahmad Al-Khatib, Ahmad Al-Saadoun, Abdullah Al-Nafisi and Obaid Al-Wasmi, with the last two presenting proposals for wider reforms.