Spending on employees' dues, unlawful social aid increased debt
KUWAIT: The Ministry of Social Affairs owes the government around KD 20 million, as per the last final statement, Chairman of the parliament's budgets and final statement committee MP Adnan Abdulsamad said yesterday. Abdulsamad added that the committee discussed the ministry's final statement for the fiscal year 2018-2019 and the remarks made by the State Audit Bureau and financial auditors about it. "The committee discussed the ministry's lax control over spending on employees' dues and social aid that is sometimes unlawfully given, which increased the ministry's debts to around KD 20 million - which has repeated for several years," he underlined.
Abdulsamad noted that the committee stressed the need to find a clear mechanism to prevent the recurrence of such remarks and automate various aid payments. In addition, Abdulsamad said the committee discussed the ministry's lack of spending on construction projects and insufficient knowledge of contracting measures and procedures, as reported by the State Audit Bureau. "The committee has been recommending resolving administrative problems hindering executing the ministry's projects in the previous three reports," Abdulsamad reiterated, urging the ministry to accelerate its execution of projects as planned and avoid wasting fortunes on urgent maintenance of dilapidated buildings and their rent.
Private schools
Meanwhile, a number of parliamentarians plan to file a request to allocate two hours of a parliamentary session to discuss the situation in private schools in Kuwait, with the belief that some of them have turned education into a business at the expense of students, with the result of financially overburdening their parents. In this regard, parliamentary sources said the request is ready and will be officially filed once the new Cabinet is appointed and the new education minister is named to discuss the issue with them at the educational affairs committee. "The lawmakers intend to give the new minister a chance to probe the situation in the ministry prior to discussing the request in parliament," the sources said.
The sources highlighted the current situation has a negative impact on both Kuwaitis and expats, as some private schools provokingly use twisted ways to increase tuition fees, although the Ministry of Education had set limits to fee hikes. "The services provided in these schools do not match the fees they collect," the sources remarked, pointing out that lawmakers had already drafted a number of recommendations to discuss during the session.
Employees' salaries
In other news, the Public Authority for Manpower's official spokesperson Aseel Al-Mezyad announced that according to administrative directive number 26/2019, employers will be granted a two-month grace period to deposit the salaries of employees recruited from abroad in local banks effective from issuing their work permits. Mezyad added that the labor inspection department will ensure and document employers' payment of the salaries within the grace period.
By A Saleh