THE FIRST ENGLISH LANGUAGE DAILY IN FREE KUWAITEstablished in 1977 / www.arabtimesonline.com

TUESDAY, JANUARY 5, 2021 / JUMADA AL AWWAL 21, 1442 AH emergency number 112 NO. 17579 16 PAGES 150 FILS

cricket

marketsPage 14 Page 9

Trump told to back off

Seoul ... silent

Iran ups enrichment in returnto brinkmanship, seizes tanker

Sisi hails Kuwait

Saudi to lift Qatar embargo, open airspace

Kuwait logs 269 new cases

Chronics on COVID priority list

WASHINGTON, Jan 4, (AP): In an extraordinary rebuke of Presi-dent Donald Trump, all 10 living former secretaries of defense are cautioning against any move to involve the military in pursuing claims of election fraud, arguing that it would take the country into “dangerous, unlawful and uncon-stitutional territory.”

The 10 men, both Democrats and Republicans, signed on to an opinion article published Sun-day in The Washington Post that implicitly questioned Trump’s willingness to follow his Con-stitutional duty to peacefully relinquish power on Jan. 20. Fol-lowing the Nov. 3 election and subsequent recounts in some states, as well as unsuccessful court challenges, the outcome is clear, they wrote, while not spec-ifying Trump in the article.

“The time for questioning the results has passed; the time for the formal counting of the elec-toral college votes, as prescribed in the Constitution and statute, has arrived,” they wrote.

The former Pentagon chiefs warned against use of the military in any effort to change the outcome.

“Efforts to involve the U.S. armed forces in resolving election disputes would take us into dan-gerous, unlawful and unconstitu-tional territory,” they wrote. “Ci-vilian and military officials who direct or carry out such measures would be accountable, including potentially facing criminal penal-ties, for the grave consequences of their actions on our republic.”

A number of senior military officers, including Gen. Mark Milley, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, have said pub-licly in recent weeks that the military has no role in determin-ing the outcome of U.S. elections and that their loyalty is to the Constitution, not to an individual leader or a political party.

The 10 former Pentagon leaders also warned in their Post article of the dangers of impeding a full and smooth transition at Defense Department prior to Inauguration Day as part of a transfer to pow-er to President-elect Joe Biden. Biden has complained of efforts by Trump-appointed Pentagon officials to obstruct the transition.

KUWAIT CITY, Jan 4, (Agencies): Kuwait’s health ministry said on Sunday that people with chronic diseases and special needs should be pri-oritized as a mass inoculation campaign against Covid-19 continues, with health workers and the elderly already at the front of the line.

The shots would be administered on a “prior-ity basis” through online pre-registration, inevi-tably leading to a vaccine rollout to the wider population, which is in line with the ministry’s efforts to safeguard public health, it said in a statement.

The measure also aims to protect the most ex-posed groups and those higher at risk of devel-oping COVID-19 complications, added the state-ment.

The Ministry of Health said Sunday that 269 coronavirus cases were confirmed over the past 24 hours, raising Kuwait’s caseload to 151,343.

The death toll remained unchanged at 937, the Ministry’s spokesman Dr. Abdullah Al-Sanad told KUNA.

The number of Covid-19 patients receiving care at hospitals stands at 3,135, including 53 ICU occupants, he said.

As many as 4,712 swab tests were conducted over the last 24 hours, taking the overall tests 1266,950, Dr. Al-Sanad added.

Meanwhile, Kuwait’s Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) decided to suspend the flights to and from the United Kingdom as from 4:00 am. Wednesday, January 6, until further no-tice.

The decision will be revised later on in view of the recommendations of the Kuwaiti health au-thorities, Spokesman of the Directorate Saad Al-Otaibi told KUNA on Sunday night.

Earlier today, DGCA President Sheikh Salman Sabah Al Salem Al Hamoud Al Sabah inspected the health precautions put in place at Kuwait In-ternational Airport.

The DGCA has introduced, in collaboration with the health authorities, a range of measures to prevent the spread of the novel coronavirus (Co-vid-19), particularly the new variant of the virus, Al-Otaibi noted.

These include conducting PCR tests for all trav-elers arriving in Kuwait to make sure they are free from the new strain, which was first identified in the UK.

In the meantime, the DGCA said the ban on flights to and from Kuwait was lifted at dawn last Saturday, after slapping it on Dec 21, 2020, in-formed sources in the DGCA put the number of flights that landed and took off at 70.

However, the incoming flights from 35 coun-tries including India, Iran, China, Brazil, Colum-bia, Armenia, Bangladesh, the Philippines, Syria, Spain, Singapore, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Sri Lanka, Nepal, Iraq, Mexico, Indonesia, Chile, Pakistan, Egypt, Lebanon, Hong Kong, Italy, North Macedonia, Moldova, Panama, Peru, Ser-bia, Montenegro, Dominican Republic and Koso-vo, remain in place since the Kuwaiti health au-thorities has not changed its decision due to the situation and repercussions caused by the spread of the coronavirus.

The citizens of these countries cannot directly enter Kuwait, but can enter after passing through a third country from where flights are permitted to land provided they stay in that country for 14 days.

DUBAI, Jan 4, (AP): Iran began enriching uranium Monday to levels unseen since its 2015 nuclear deal with world powers and also seized a South Korean-flagged tanker near the crucial Strait of Hor-muz, a double-barreled challenge to the West that further raised Mideast tensions.

Both decisions appeared aimed at increasing Tehran’s leverage in the waning days in office for President Don-ald Trump, whose unilateral withdrawal from the atomic accord in 2018 began a series of escalating incidents.

Increasing enrichment at its underground Fordo facility puts Tehran a technical step away from weapons-grade levels of 90%, while also pressuring President-elect Joe Biden to quickly nego-tiate. Iran’s seizure of the MT Hankuk Chemi comes as a South Korean diplomat was due to travel to the Islamic Republic to discuss the release of billions of dollars in Iranian assets now frozen in Seoul.

Calls to South Korea’s For-eign Ministry and the ship’s listed owner, DM Shipping Ltd of Busan, South Korea were not immediately answered after busi-ness hours Monday. Iran did not acknowledge the vessel’s loca-tion.

Iranian Foreign Minister Mo-hammad Javad Zarif seemed to acknowledge Tehran’s interest in leveraging the situation in a tweet about its nuclear enrichment.

“Our measures are fully re-versible upon FULL compliance by ALL,” he wrote.

At Fordo, Iranian nuclear scientists under the watch of International Atomic Energy Agency inspectors loaded cen-trifuges with over 130 kilograms (285 pounds) of low-enriched uranium to be spun up to 20%, said Kazem Gharibabadi, Iran’s permanent representative to the U.N. atomic agency.

The IAEA later described the Fordo setup as three sets of two interconnected cascades, com-prised of 1,044 IR-1 centrifuges - Iran’s first-generation centri-fuges. A cascade is a group of centrifuges working together to more quickly enrich uranium.

Iranian state television quoted government spokesman Ali Ra-biei as saying that President Has-

san Rouhani had given the order to begin the production. It came after its parliament passed a bill, later approved by a constitutional watchdog, aimed at increasing enrichment to pressure Europe into providing sanctions relief.

Iran’s decision to begin en-riching to 20% purity a decade ago nearly triggered an Israeli strike targeting its nuclear fa-cilities, tensions that only abated with the 2015 atomic deal, which saw Iran limit its enrichment in exchange for the lifting of eco-nomic sanctions.

A resumption of 20% enrich-ment could see that brinkman-ship return. Already, a Novem-ber attack that Tehran blames on Israel killed an Iranian scientist who founded the country’s mili-tary nuclear program two de-cades earlier.

From Israel, which has its own undeclared nuclear weapons program, Prime Minister Benja-min Netanyahu criticized Iran’s enrichment decision, saying it “cannot be explained in any way other than the continuation of re-alizing its goal to develop a mili-tary nuclear program.”

“Israel will not allow Iran to manufacture a nuclear weapon,” he added.

Tehran has long maintained its nuclear program is peaceful. The U.S. State Department says that as late as last year, it “continued to assess that Iran is not currently engaged in key activities associ-ated with the design and develop-ment of a nuclear weapon.”

KUWAIT CITY, Jan 4, (Agen-cies): Kuwait’s foreign ministry on Monday announced that Saudi Arabia will lift a years-long em-bargo on Qatar, opening its air and land borders in the first steps toward ending the Gulf crisis.

The state-run Kuwait News Agency reported the announce-ment, saying that Saudi Arabia would open its airspace, land and sea borders starting Monday eve-ning.

Kuwait has been mediating between Qatar and four Arab states that launched an embargo in mid-2017 over Qatar’s support for Islamist groups in the region and its warm ties with Iran.

The announcement comes on the eve of a summit of Gulf Arab leaders in Saudi Arabia on Tues-day that will be chaired by Saudi King Salman. Qatar’s ruler is now expected to attend the sum-mit for the first time since the embargo.

The decision by the close US allies comes in the final days of the Trump administration’s time in office, and just ahead of the incoming President-elect Joe Biden.

His Highness the Amir Sheikh Nawaf Al-Ahmad Al-Jaber Al-Sabah is scheduled to depart Kuwait tomorrow (Tuesday) to Saudi Arabia to head the State of Kuwait delegation partaking in the 41st GCC summit due in the governorate of Al-Ula.

Egypt’s President Abdel-Fat-tah el-Sisi reiterated the Egyptian policy constants aiming to main-tain Arab solidarity, in response to the Kuwaiti efforts to resolve the Gulf Crisis between the Arab quartet and Qatar, egypttoday.com reports.

Sisi’s remarks came as he received on Saturday Sheikh Ahmad Nasser Al-Sabah, the Kuwaiti foreign minister, who carried a message from HH the Amir Sheikh Nawaf Al-Ahmad Al-Sabah.

The message has displayed the latest developments related to the Kuwaiti efforts in unifying the Arab ranks through achieving reconciliation between the Arab quartet, consisting of Egypt, Saudi Arabia, Bahrain and UAE and Qatar.

This comes more than three years after the quartet decided to cut diplomatic ties with Qatar, to pressurize Doha to end its al-leged finance to terrorist groups.

“Concerning the reconciliation efforts, Mr President (El-Sisi) has expressed appreciation and support to the Kuwaiti sincere efforts stemming from good in-tentions over the past years to achieve the desired reconcilia-tion,” Presidential spokesman Bassam Radi said, after Sisi’s meeting with the Kuwaiti foreign minister.

InitiatedSisi praised the Kuwaiti efforts

in this regard, initiated by late Emir Sheikh Sabah Al-Ahmad Al-Jaber Al Sabah and resumed by the current Amir, Sheikh Nawaf.

He also hailed the role played by the Saudi Arabia during the crisis on behalf of the quartet.

“His excellency (the presi-dent) has affirmed the constants of the Egyptian policy to achieve cooperation and development and support Arab solidarity as a solid strategic approach,” Radi said.

Sisi also affirmed the impor-tance of sticking to sincere inten-tions to achieve the mutual inter-est and well as solidarity to ward off dangers from the rest of the Arab nation and preserve its na-tional security, Rady added.

During the meeting, Sisi and the Kuwaiti foreign minister have agreed on the need to en-hance consultation and coordina-tion between the two countries in this regard, with the aim of facing any security threat facing stability of the Arab nations.

In the message, the Kuwaiti Amir has affirmed his country’s appreciation to the brotherly rela-tions with Egypt.

Kuwaiti Amir Sheikh Nawaf Al-Jaber hailed Egypt’s strategic and pivotal role in preserving the Arab national security and defend-ing the causes of the Arab nation.

He also praised Egypt’s con-tinuous efforts in establishing regional security, stability and development.

Sisi, during the meeting, asked to convey his greetings to the Kuwaiti Amir, affirming the special relations between Egypt and Kuwait, represented in de-cades of cooperation in various fields.

The president stressed Egypt’s keenness to develop cooperation and coordination between the two countries to serve the interests of peoples of both countries as well as the Arab nation.

In this photo released on Jan 4, by Tasnim News Agency, a seized South Korean-flagged tanker is escorted by Iranian Revolutionary Guard boats on the Arabian Gulf. Iranian state television ac-knowledged that Tehran seized the oil tanker in the Strait of Hormuz. The report on Monday alleged the MT Hankuk Chemi had been stopped by Iranian authorities over alleged ‘oil pollution’ in the

Arabian Gulf and the strait. (AP)

This Dec 11, 2020 satellite photo, by Maxar Technologies shows construction at Iran’s Fordo nuclear facility. Iran has begun construction on a site at its underground nuclear facility at Fordo amid tensions with the US over its atomic program, satellite photos obtained on Dec 18, 2020, by The Associ-

ated Press show. (AP)

Newswatch

KUWAIT CITY: The Directorate General of Public Relations and Security Media De-partment of the Interior Ministry stated as of Jan 1, 2021, the renewal of residence per-mits online (https://eres.moi.gov.kw/indi-vidual/ar/auth/login) is limited to domestic workers who come under Article 20 of the law governing the issue of Kuwait visas and which operates 24/7, reports Al-Anba daily.

The daily quoting Interior Ministry sourc-es said a counter will be allocated for the elderly and people with special needs inside the service centers.

This comes as part of the security estab-lishment’s keenness to facilitate the citizens and in implementation of the security strat-egy developed by switching to electronic services, in order to save time and effort and speed the completion of transactions.

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KUWAIT CITY: His Highness the Amir Sheikh Nawaf Al-Ahmad Al-Jaber Al-Sa-bah has addressed a cable of condolences to Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques King Salman bin Abdulaziz Al-Saud on the de-mise of Prince Khaled bin Faisal bin Saad Al-Awal bin Abdulrahman Al-Saud.

His Highness the Amir prayed for soul of the deceased and wished his family patience and endurance.

His Highness the Crown Prince Sheikh Mishal Al-Ahmad Al-Jaber Al-Sabah also sent a cable of consolation to the Saudi monarch on the death of Prince Khaled bin Faisal. (KUNA)

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BEIRUT: Elias Rahbani, a Lebanese compos-er and lyricist who wrote the music for some of the Arab world’s top performers, including Lebanon’s diva Fairouz, has died after bat-tling COVID-19, his family said. He was 82.

Rahbani was hospitalized last week suf-fering low oxygen after he contracted the coronavirus and succumbed to COVID-19, the illness caused by the virus, on Monday.

Elias was the younger brother of Man-sour and Assi Rahbani, the Arab world’s iconic musical duo known as the Rahbani Brothers, who wrote music and plays for Fairouz and other celebrities. Assi Rahbani, who was married to Fairouz, died in 1985, while Mansour passed away in 2009. (AP)

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LONDON: A British judge on Monday re-jected the United States’ request to extra-dite WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange to face espionage charges over the publication of secret US documents a decade ago, say-ing he was likely to kill himself if held under harsh US prison conditions.

In a mixed ruling for Assange and his sup-porters, District Judge Vanessa Baraitser rejected defense arguments that the 49-year-old Australian faces a politically motivated American prosecution that rides roughshod over free-speech protections. But she said Assange’s precarious mental health would likely deteriorate further under the condi-tions of “near total isolation” he would face in a US prison.

“I fi nd that the mental condition of Mr. Assange is such that it would be oppres-sive to extradite him to the United States of America,” the judge said. (AP)

2ARAB TIMES, TUESDAY, JANUARY 5, 2021

editor’s choice

Trump’s legacy

On a whim and a prayer … just a whisp in the wind?

Main picture: People protest in the rain near the White House in Washington on June 4, 2020, over the death of George Floyd, a Black man who died in Minneapolis after a white police offi cer pressed a knee into his neck for several minutes. Inset: US President Donald Trump speaks in the rain during a campaign rally at Capital Region

International Airport in Lansing Mich., on Oct. 27, 2020. (AP)

The most improbable of presidents, Donald Trump reshaped the offi ce and shattered its centuries-old norms and traditions while dominat-ing the national discourse like no one before.

Trump, governing by whim and tweet, deepened the nation’s racial and cultural divides and undermined faith in its institutions. His legacy: a tumultuous four years that were marked by his impeachment, failures during the worst pandemic in a century and his refusal to accept defeat.

He smashed conceptions about how presidents behave and communi-cate, offering unvarnished thoughts and policy declarations alike, pulling back the curtain for the American people while enthralling supporters and unnerving foes — and sometimes allies — both at home and abroad.

While the nation would be hardpressed to elect another fi gure as dis-ruptive as Trump, it remains to be seen how much of his imprint on the offi ce itself, occupied by only 44 other men, will be indelible. Already it shadows the work of his successor, President-elect Joe Biden, who framed his candidacy as a repudiation of Trump, offering himself as an antidote to the chaos and dissent of the past four years while vowing to restore dignity to the Oval Offi ce.

“For all four years, this is someone who at every opportunity tried to stretch presidential power beyond the limits of the law,” said presidential historian Michael Beschloss. “He altered the presidency in many ways, but many of them can be changed back almost overnight by a president who wants to make the point that there is a change.”

Trump’s most enduring legacy may be his use of the trappings of the presidency to erode Americans’ views of the institutions of their own government.

From his fi rst moments in offi ce, Trump waged an assault on the fed-eral bureaucracy, casting a suspicious eye on career offi cials he deemed the “Deep State” and shaking Americans’ confi dence in civil servants and the levers of government. Believing that the investigation into Rus-sian election interference was a crusade to undermine him, Trump went after the intelligence agencies and Justice Department — calling out leaders by name — and later unleashed broadsides against the man run-ning the probe, respected special counsel Robert Mueller.

His other targets were legion: the Supreme Court for insuffi cient loy-alty; the post offi ce for its handling of mail-in ballots; even the integrity of the vote itself with his baseless claims of election fraud.

“In the past, presidents who lost were always willing to turn the of-fi ce over to the next person. They were willing to accept the vote of the American public,” said Richard Waterman, who studies the presidency at the University of Kentucky. “What we’re seeing right now is really an assault on the institutions of democracy.”

Current polling suggests that many Americans, and a majority of Re-publicans, feel that Biden was illegitimately elected, damaging his cred-ibility as he takes offi ce during a crisis and also creating a template of deep suspicion for future elections.

“That’s a cancer,” Waterman said. “I don’t know if the cancer can be removed from the presidency without doing damage to the offi ce itself. I think he’s done tremendous damage in the last several weeks.”

Jeopardizing the peaceful transfer of power was hardly Trump’s fi rst assault on the traditions of the presidency.

He didn’t release his tax returns or divest himself from his businesses. He doled out government resources on a partisan basis and undermined his own scientists. He rage tweeted at members of his own party and used government property for political purposes, including the White House as the backdrop for his renomination acceptance speech.

Trump used National Guard troops to clear a largely peaceful protest across from the White House for a photo-op. He named a secretary of defense, Jim Mattis, who needed a congressional waiver to serve be-cause the retired general had not been out of uniform for the seven years required by law. In that one example, Biden has followed Trump’s lead, nominating for Pentagon chief retired Gen. Lloyd Austin, who also will

By the numbersWORDS matter. But numbers tell stories, too.

Presidential historians and others will plumb them as they assess President Donald Trump’s legacy,

Trump’s presidency is refl ected in a broad range of numbers representing everything from the US death toll during the coronavirus pandem-ic to the miles of his “big, beautiful wall” along the border with Mexico to the tens of thousands of tweets he sent during four years in offi ce.

Some of the numbers that are part of Trump’s legacy:

-322,000 and counting: Number of US deaths attributed to COVID-19.

-6: Coronavirus vaccines being developed and-or distributed under Trump’s Operation Warp Speed program.

-2: Coronavirus vaccines — by Pfi zer and BioNTech, and a separate one by Moderna — that US regulators approved in 2020 for emer-gency use.

0: Comprehensive health care overhaul plans Trump introduced despite repeated promises to replace the Obama-era Affordable Care Act with a plan that would cover every-one at a lower cost.

3: Justices added to the Supreme Court, es-tablishing a solid 6-3 conservative majority.

221: Federal trial-level and appeals court judges added to the judiciary.

$3.1 trillion: 2020 budget defi cit, the larg-est in dollar terms in US history. Trump had pledged during the 2016 campaign to eliminate the gap between federal spending and revenue.

Tax cuts Trump enacted in 2017 contributed to the imbalance, and it ballooned further after Congress passed $2.4 trillion in economic re-lief earlier this year to help unemployed work-ers, business owners and others weather the fi -nancial fallout from the coronavirus pandemic.

3: In-person meetings with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un (in Singapore, Vietnam and the Korean demilitarized zone).

$21 trillion: Federal debt in December, when it exceeded the size of the economy for the fi rst time in history outside World War II.

82: Number of Trump administration envi-ronmental and public health rollbacks tracked on Harvard University’s rollback tracker.

4: Men who served as acting secretary of de-fense, the most in any administration.

203: Days the Pentagon operated without a Senate-confi rmed defense secretary, the long-est stretch in the history of the offi ce.

450: Miles of Trump’s “big, beautiful” steel wall along the US-Mexico border expected to completed by year’s end.

39%: Trump’s average approval rating among American adults in AP-NORC polls over the course of his presidency. Assessments of Trump’s performance were remarkably stable, compared with his recent predecessors, ranging from a low of 32% to a high of 43% in AP-NORC polls.

1 billion: Barrels of oil and gas pumped from federally managed lands in 2019 as the administration sped permits and opened wil-derness and other areas to the industry.

$135 billion: Expected growth in the de-

fense budget under Trump. President Barack Obama’s fi nal defense budget for 2017 totaled $605 billion; Trump’s fi nal defense budget for 2021, approved by Congress in December, to-taled $740 billion. Trump said he planned to veto the bill for unrelated reasons, but Con-gress had enough votes to override a veto and enact the bill over his objections.

4: International agreements Trump pulled the US out of: Iran nuclear deal, Paris climate agreement, Open Skies Treaty and Intermedi-ate-Range Nuclear Forces Treaty.

13: Federal executions scheduled since July, when the administration resumed putting in-mates to death after a 17-year hiatus, making Trump the most prolifi c execution president in more than 130 years. Federal executions will be carried out until just before the Jan. 20 inau-guration of President-elect Joe Biden.

315: Days Trump has visited a golf course as president, according to Factba.se, a data ana-lytics company.

418: Days Trump has visited a property he owns, according to Factba.se.

1: New branch of US military: the Space Force.

15%: Drop in trade defi cit with China be-tween January-September 2020 and a year ear-lier. This followed a 19% drop in 2019 to $308 billion, the lowest since 2013.

25,000 and counting: Tweets, including original messages and retweets, sent by Trump since he took offi ce on Jan. 20, 2017, accord-ing to Factba.se. (AP)

need a waiver.Trump’s disruption extended to the global stage as well, where he

cast doubt on once-inviolable alliances like NATO and bilateral partner-ships with a host of allies. His “America First” foreign policy emanated more from preconceived notions of past slights than current facts on the ground. He unilaterally pulled troops from Afghanistan, Somalia, Iraq and Syria, each time drawing bipartisan fi re for undermining the very purpose of the American deployment.

He pulled out of multinational environmental agreements, an action that scientists warn may have accelerated climate change. He stepped away from accords that kept Iran’s nuclear ambitions, if not its regional malevolence, in check.

And his presidency may be remembered for altering, perhaps perma-nently, the nature of the U.S.-China relationship, dimming hopes for a peaceful emergence of China as a world power and laying the foundation for a new generation of economic and strategic rivalry.

While historians agree that Trump was a singular fi gure in the offi ce, it will be decades before the consequences of his tenure are fully known. But some pieces of his legacy already are in place.

He named three Supreme Court justices and more than 220 federal judges, giving the judiciary an enduring conservative bent. He rolled back regulations and oversaw an economy that boomed until the pan-

demic hit. His presence increased voter turnout — both for and against him — to record levels. He received unwavering loyalty from his own party but was quick to cast aside any who displeased him.

“President Trump has been the person who has returned power to the American people, not the Washington elite, and preserved our history and institutions, while others have tried to tear them down,” said White House spokesman Judd Deere. “The American people elected a success-ful businessman who promised to go to Washington, not to tear it down, but to put them fi rst.”

At times, Trump acted like a bystander to his own presidency, opting to tweet along with a cable news segment rather than dive into an effort to change policy. And that was one of the many ways Trump changed the way that presidents communicate.

Carefully crafted policy statements took a back seat, replaced by tweets and off-the-cuff remarks to reporters over the whir of helicopter blades. The discourse hardened, with swear words, personal insults and violent imagery infi ltrating the presidential lexicon. And there were the untruths — more than 23,000, according to a count by The Washington Post — that Trump tossed out with little regard for their impact.

It was that lack of honesty that played a role in his defeat in an elec-tion that became a referendum on how he had managed the COVID-19 pandemic, which has now killed more than 300,000 Americans. (AP)

LOCALARAB TIMES, TUESDAY, JANUARY 5, 2021

3

‘Merchants count as pressure grows to impose tax on citizens’“THE persistent and provocative statements issued by the Chamber of Commerce about the seriousness of the economic situation in the country aimed at pres-suring the government to support merchants, by im-posing a tax on the citizen, and we know as everyone that the merchants up to this moment continue to at-tack the country’s capabilities and control the political decision-making and Parliament over the position of Speaker of the National Assembly,” columnist Abdul-Redha Qambar wrote for Al-Shahed daily.

“The government obedience and the desperate fear of merchants is surprising to the general public, but merchants through the newspapers and oth-er channels undoubtedly rule the roost of the political, economic and media game, in addition to them controlling the banking industry.

“The government role in this country does not exceed more than appointments and the for-mation of governments. The merchants also have a word in the appointment of ministers, specifi cally the Minister of Commerce and the Min-ister of Finance.

“The country undoubtedly is at the mercy and au-thority of the Chamber of Commerce, which will soon be headed by Khaled Al-Ghanim, the spoiled brother of the Speaker of Parliament and the son of the for-mer President of the Chamber of Commerce, Ali Al-Ghanim.

“What happens behind the closed doors of this building determines the economic fate of the country, appointments in senior positions, and at times, group-ing some to direct parliamentary elections to so-and-so at the expense of so-and-so.

“We will not forget the phrase ‘the knife is placed at the neck of everybody’ that was repeated by the Minister of Finance and echoed by the Prime Min-ister upon instructions from those closed rooms to devote an idea to the citizens that we are suffer-ing from an economic crisis and the government’s inability to pay salaries to impose control on this honorable people and to take tax from their salaries to cover this deficit.

“We trusted a government that protects our money, protects us from the greed of merchants, increases our welfare, and makes us among the generous countries, but it seems that we erred in our assessment of the situation, and we forgot the history of merchants dur-ing the past crises who controlled the governments for their personal interest. These governments have made the Chamber of Commerce a ‘state within a state’ and

forced us to bow to their whims and desires.”Also:

“The human development and human investment are the greatest investment, since the progress of any institution, whether government or civil is related to the performance of its leaders. If the choice is based on courtesies and personal relationships, there is no hope of progress or reform, but if it is by selecting competent people and then by providing the person to develop himself, his skills and abilities, his potential will develop continuously and he will be able to raise his level and the level of the institution in which he works for,” columnist Hind Al Shoumer wrote for Al-Anba daily.

“The absence of justice and equality for all must be decisive and the issue must be taken seriously by the executive and legislative authorities, as all the other authorities by developing and implementing laws that regulating the nomination and selection for leadership and supervisory positions, so that we see the charac-teristics in those senior positions to replace those who lack effi ciency who were appointed through mediation or personal relationships.

“The successful selection of offi cials in supervisory positions will help any institution to come out of the yoke of corruption of all kinds which must be the top priority of the National Assembly and the government if we are to make Kuwait’s vision for the future suc-cessful with ideas and skills of those who are compe-tent to assume these leadership and supervisory posi-tions instead of climbing to the top with the help of a parachute.

“Assuming any leadership or supervisory position must reconsider the selection mechanism in accord-ance with clear procedures through which justice, equality and equal opportunities are achieved for all and fortify the selection of leaders based on whims and non-subjective justifi cations.

“The selection of competent people in senior posi-tions must be done through specifi c controls, the most important of which are integrity, passing the necessary training, and a special committee supervising the se-lection so that the selection is neutral and none of the committee members interferes with it.

“We should bear in mind that these senior posi-tions are the face of the nation, as those who assume their duties must swear to work to advance the coun-try without any personal interest to achieve Kuwait’s vision of the future and take our country to a higher level.”

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“The men of the Interior Ministry proved once again that they are up to the responsibility of maintain-ing peace and order amid the New Year celebrations.

Their presence was felt throughout the country under the leadership of Interior Minister Sheikh Thamer Al-Ali, Undersecretary Lieutenant General Issam Al-Na-ham and the assistant undersecretaries, ensuring the safety of citizens and expatriates,” columnist Moham-mad Al-Jalahma wrote for Al-Anba daily.

“God willing, the year 2021 will be a different year. We are hoping for a miracle to happen by controlling the corona pandemic and life returns to how it used to be.

“On this occasion, I congratulate His Highness the Amir Sheikh Nawaf Al-Ahmad, His Highness the Crown Prince Sheikh Meshaal Al-Ahmad, HH the Prime Minister Sheikh Sabah Al-Khalid, the interior minister, citizens and expatriates. I ask God Almighty to make it a good year for everyone.

“In March of last year, at the height of the corona pan-demic and while most countries around the world closed their airspace at an inappropriate time, a ministerial de-cision was issued granting expatriates who violated the Residency Law a chance to amend their status or leave the country without paying fi nes. The number of those who took advantage of this decision did not exceed 15 percent despite the unprecedented privileges such as free accommodation and airline tickets.

“In November, a similar decision was issued and the deadline was extended for another month, but those who violated the law were required to pay fi nes for their violations or about KD 600.

“Personally, I think the solution is to specify a new deadline once the countries, including Kuwait, open their airspace, not under these circumstances when airfare is very expensive.”

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“The year 2020 was like no other as the CQVID-19 pandemic turned our lives upside down. United ‘Na-tions Secretary-General Antonio Guterres told the me-dia: ‘In these early days, we are facing a global health crisis unlike any crisis in the 75-year history of the United Nations,’” columnist Hamad Abdulghafour Mahmoud Modawah wrote for Al-Anba daily.

“People around the world have witnessed profound changes in their lives, such as economic recession, unemployment, climate change, technological devel-opment, debt, rise of cryptocurrencies, low returns on savings and more.

“COVID-19 is really an unparalleled crisis. In the context of countries’ efforts to face health emergen-cies, they had to impose total suspension of economic life during the ‘great general lockdown’.

“The consequence was the worst recession since the Great Depression. Governments and global organi-zations moved swiftly to help the general public and countries, while the entire global economic outlook is full of dense clouds of uncertainty.

“The timeline of the events related to the corona pandemic started when it was announced in Wuhan, China in December 2019 -- that there were unknown pneumonia cases, up to the World Health Organiza-tion raising the threat status to a high degree of sever-ity in February 2020.

“This, in turn, negatively affected the economic sectors in global markets. It has had a negative im-pact on oil and gas prices in global markets, global stock exchanges, factories, retail, shipping, investor and consumer confi dence. On the other hand, the coronavirus had a positive impact on other sectors in-cluding e-commerce, education, remote work, remote entertainment and lower levels of environmental pol-lution.”

❑ ❑ ❑

“There is a group of retirees who are lucky and privileged for being subjected to appreciation at their previous workplaces. It could be due to their good relationship and practical and scien-tific competence or even due to the partisan, sec-tarian, tribal and family relationship that binds them with the work entity and those in charge of it,” Dr. Mohammad Al-Duwaihees wrote for Al-Shahed daily.

“Therefore, we fi nd that some retirees benefi t from their retirement, and the process of their re-tirement is arranged with their employer or with the currents and parties to which they belong. The job is determined for them directly after retirement in the institutions, local and international organiza-tions, regional institutions, public benefi t associa-tions and private sector institutions that their affi li-ated groups or parties control.

“We fi nd that some of the retirees are affected by the decision to refer them to retirement, as the process of communication between them and their employers is cut off. They do not fi nd bodies or organizations that facilitate their work after retire-ment, as they are not affi liated with any parties, po-litical currents, tribal, sectarian, family and regional blocs.

“Let it be known that I am not against appoint-ing retirees in authorities, organizations and insti-tutions affi liated with these political, sectarian and tribal parties and blocs as long as this appointment is based on justice, equality, and the principle of equal opportunities and fair competition among re-tirees. The appointed retiree should have the appro-priate competence and experience that is consistent with the requirements and conditions of employ-ment and not just because of his belonging to those parties and currents.”

— Compiled by Ahmad Al-Shazli

Qambar

Other Voices

MPW minister refers roads damagereport to ‘Anti-Corruption Authority’

Some areas unfit for human living: citizens, expats

Al-Abdullah, Taima, Sabah Al-Nasser, Rawdah, and other areas, although the Khaitan Police Station deserves to be singled out as the area with the largest number of potholes.

The Al-Seyassah daily during a tour of many of these areas, says the most prominent of these problems, which reveal a severe randomness in dealing with the infrastructure, shows even the sidewalks are neglected and is badly in need of comprehensive maintenance.

UnbearableOne of the Kuwaitis, during a

tour of Khaitan, said the streets of Khaitan have become unbearable with potholes every inch with the worn out asphalt adding insult to injury in many parts of the suburb, surprisingly the street in front and around the police station in the area is no better and the same can be said of the commercial com-plexes, banks and restaurants, and called on the competent authorities to repair the streets of Khaitan, as well as the streets of other regions, pointing out that he lives in the Sabah Al-Nasser area and the streets in that suburb are bad as well.

Another Kuwaiti, who identi-fied himself as H.F., lamented the role of the MPs in the National Assembly because they seem to have turned their backs on the streets, and singled out the Khaitan Police Station as an example.

He called for the Ministry of Public Works to deal with these roads and have mercy on the citi-zens and everyone who lives on the land of Kuwait.

Another Kuwaiti, A.R.K., says he believes the disastrous condi-tion of most of Kuwait’s streets confirm that we are still suffering from corruption, and it appears there is no real control by the Ministry of Public Works over contracting companies which are responsible for paving the roads and pavements.

He said the streets of Khaitan, Jleeb Al-Shuyoukh, Farwaniya, or even private housing areas, are the same and depict mini pools of water during rainfall.

KUWAIT CITY, Jan 4, (Agencies): Minister of Public Works Dr Rana Al-Fares referred a report to Public Anti-Corruption Authority (Nazaha) about damages in roads caused by rain fall and amongst recommen-dations was improving designing criteria of rain drain-age networks in future projects.

Ministry spokesman Abdullah Al-Ajmi said Al-Fares, also Minister of State for Municipal Affairs, approved the technical recommenda-tions of the report.

He said roads paved since April 2019 were not damaged.Roads that were damaged were old, said Al-Ajmi, and it was the contrac-

tor’s responsibility to fix them in accordance with the contract. Neglect of roads is no longer confined to investment housing areas only,

but recently it appears this neglect has seeped into the private housing areas, where the streets look similar with potholes and erosion of asphalt every few meters and it has become extremely difficult to differentiate one street from another as the citizens and residents continue to share the same concern, reported Al-Seyassah daily .

The dilapidated streets and sidewalks are similar, as those at the Khaitan Police Station are the same as Hawalli, Sabahiya, Dhahr, Fahaheel, Saad

KUNA photoHis Highness the Crown Prince Sheikh Meshaal Al-Ahmad Al-Sabah received His Excellency the Minister of Defense and the Deputy Prime Minister Sheikh Hamad Jaber Al-Ali Al-Sabah, His Excellency the Minister of Foreign Affairs Sheikh Dr Ahmad Nasser Al-Mohammad Al-Sabah and His Excellency the Minister of Interior

Sheikh Thamer Al-Ali Al-Sabah. Various issues were discussed.

Stick to health requirements at workplaces: expertKUWAIT CITY, Jan 4: Direc-tor of the Department of Health Promotion Dr. Abeer Al-Bahwa affi rmed the importance of full compliance with health require-ments in workplaces, reports Al-jarida daily.

In a press statement issued on the sidelines of the launch of the awareness campaign organized by the Department of Health Pro-motion, Dr. Al-Bahwa explained that the Ministry of Health has been spreading awareness since the start of the COVID-19 pan-demic. The campaign was organ-ized with the cooperation of the Infection Prevention Department. It is related to the health condi-tions necessary to combat the COVID-19 disease, and aimed at educating the departments and sectors of the Ministry of Health.

The ten-day campaign inside the ministry’s building in Sulai-

bikhat area included a modern awareness exhibition specialized in health requirements for work-places, as well as an awareness presentation conducted by the doctors in the Health Promotion Department regarding the ways to implement the requirements.

Meanwhile, head of Jahra and Kabad emergency team of Min-istry of Commerce and Indus-try Jama’an Al-Mutairi says the ministry intensifi ed fi eld inspec-tions at the markets, coinciding with the New Year’s holiday, in order to control the commercial markets and ensure they imple-ment the ministerial decisions and circulars concerning the buy-ing and selling process, reports Al-Anba daily.

In a press statement issued dur-ing an inspection tour carried out on a number of shops by a team of the ministry’s inspectors from

Jahra and Kabd emergency team, Al-Mutairi explained that the inspection team, in the month of December 2020, managed to issue 50 citations for violations that included commercial fraud, unauthorized price hikes and oth-er violations. It also closed down 23 shops for violating ministerial decisions.

He said, “We affi rm that all commercial stores abide by the laws and ministerial decisions, and we stress that legal measures will be taken against those who violate the law and they will be referred to the concerned authorities.”

Al-Mutairi advised consum-ers that the ministry’s teams work during offi cial holidays to receive complaints and inquir-ies from consumers through the Hotline No. 135, WhatsApp No. 55135135, and the ministry’s ac-counts on Twitter and Instagram.

KUNA photoHis Highness the Crown Prince Sheikh Meshaal Al-Ahmad Al-Jaber Al-Sabah re-

ceives His Highness the Prime Minister Sheikh Sabah Al-Khaled Al-Sabah.

New licenses for fi rms to dispose off old tiresKUWAIT CITY, Jan 4, (KUNA): The Environment Public Authority (EPA) issued on Monday new li-censes to companies to dispose off used tires in the northern area of Al-Rahya, and to evacuate South Saad Al-Abdullah residential site from any hazardous materials, in prepa-ration to be handed over to the Pub-lic Authority for Housing.

EPA Chairman of the Board of Directors and Director General of the Authority Sheikh Abdullah Al-Sabah told KUNA that the is-suance of these licenses came as a result cabinet decisions assigned to EPA to supervise condition of Al-

Rahaya area and take the necessary measures to get rid of used tires in that area as soon as possible.

Sheikh Abdullah added that this step also came to recycle tires, con-vert them to be used in factories, and use them in industries and ac-tivities to convert waste into energy inside and outside Kuwait.

The chairman added the step is also to enhance the environment in the country and contribute to waste recycling activities.

He mentioned that the number of tires in that region ranges between 30 and 50 million, according to the reports of the concerned authorities.

LOCALARAB TIMES, TUESDAY, JANUARY 5, 2021

4

Parliamentary’s ‘legal panel’discusses 60 bills, proposals

MoI asked about plan on adding 8 areas to various constituencies

By Saeed Mahmoud SalehArab Times Staff

KUWAIT CITY, Jan 4: The parliamentary Legal and Legislative Affairs Committee held its third meeting on Monday, during which it discussed almost 60 bills and proposals.

Committee Chairman MP Khalid Ayed said the committee determined the bills and proposals, which should be referred to other committees like the proposal of MPs Hassan Jawhar and Marzouq Al-Khalifa to amend the Elections Law, and that of MPs Saadoun Hammad and Muhammad

Hadi Al-Hewaila on allowing citizens to set up diwaniyas in their front yard.

Ayed also disclosed in a press statement that he forwarded queries to Minister of Interior Sheikh Thamer Ali Al-Sabah about the plan to distribute eight areas to various constituencies. He said the citizens residing in these areas were unable to vote in the recent parliamentary elections because the areas were not added to any of the fi ve constituencies, indicating these areas include Northwest Sulaibikhat and Nahda.

He presented questions to Minister of Public Works and State Minister for Mu-nicipality Affairs Dr Rana Al-Fares about the suspended coastal area development project in Sulaibikhat even if it has been included in the State’s development plan since 2015. He wants to know the amount paid to the contractor and if penalties

Al-Jarida photo

Asphalt laying in progress.

HH the Crown Prince Sheikh Meshaal Al-Ahmad.

KUNA photos

National Assembly Speaker Al-Ghanim.

‘We want our voice to reach top offi cials’

Hajji Dhahi – Bedoun pioneer ofKOC denied Kuwaiti citizenship

Egyptian University Council ‘rejects’Kuwait request to hold online exams

KUWAIT CITY, Jan 4: From the Ku-wait Oil Company Hospital, history talks about an elderly Bedoun man who spent his life serving Kuwait. He witnessed the establishment of the Kuwait Oil Com-pany (KOC) towards the end of 1950s, worked in public security during the ear-ly stages of his career and then moved to work in KOC on February 1, 1958 until the beginning of the brutal Iraqi inva-sion of Kuwait. However, to this date he could not obtain Kuwaiti citizenship, reports Al-Rai daily.

Dhahi Hussain Shaddad Al-Sahw Al-Shammari, who is nearly 90 years old, is lying in one of the wards of the Kuwait Oil Company Hospital due to his old age and his inability to speak. After decades of work and dedication, Hajji Dhahi is still considered within the category of undetermined nationality, even though his brothers and cousins all hold Ku-waiti nationality according to Article 1, as his father died before the nationality law was issued. His brothers and cousins obtained Kuwaiti nationality at that time, but he was late due to his immersion in his work. He obtained multiple attesta-tions from Kuwaiti men, certifying that he is Kuwaiti and that he was present in Kuwait before 1920.

Hajji Dhahi also obtained rulings of the Personal Status Court and the Court of Appeals that confi rmed his lineage to one of his Kuwaiti brothers, and affi rmed his right to obtain Kuwaiti nationality. However, the bureaucracy in the corri-dors of institutions and complexity of the Bedoun issue wasted his right to obtain Kuwaiti nationality for years until he witnessed his fourth generation. He lives the same tragedy that he lived, which is the denial of the right to citizenship.

SuffersAccording to the medical report, Hajj

Dhahi currently suffers from left-sided hemiplegia, as well as bed ulcers and amnesia. In 1989, he suffered in an ac-cident in the oil fi elds, a work injury that affected his physical activity. The medi-cal committee of the oil company esti-mated that Dhahi’s deformity reached 20 percent of the effi ciency of the whole body, and accordingly ordered that he be compensated for this deformity.

To fi nd out the story of Hajj Dhahi, the daily visited him at the KOC Hos-pital and met his grandson, Muhammad Saad Dhahi Al-Sahw, who said, “My grandfather Dhahi Hussain Al-Sahw was one of the founders of KOC. His service for more than 30 years began in 1958 and lasted until 1990. He is one of

the pioneers of Kuwait Oil Company, and before his work in KOC, he was an employee in the Public Security.” His grandfather’s brother holds Kuwaiti na-tionality according to Article 1 of the relevant law, and his fi rst-degree cousins are Kuwaiti citizens.

We are one of the well-known fami-lies in Kuwait, from the days of Sheikh Salem Al-Mubarak (May God have mercy on him) until our Amir His High-ness Sheikh Nawaf Al-Ahmad Al-Sabah (May God preserve him). Dhahi is one of the pioneers of the Ministry of Inte-rior and the National Guard in its early beginnings in the State of Kuwait.

NationalityThe documents confi rming my grand-

father’s entitlement to Kuwaiti national-ity are numerous. He has certifi cates from statesmen that he possesses Kuwaiti na-tionality according to Article 1. Also, my grandfather has a work ID of KOC and the Public Security in which his national-ity is described as Kuwaiti. We also have a unique court ruling entitling Dhahi Hus-sain Al-Sahw to Kuwaiti nationality ac-cording to Article 1. It has been endorsed by the Legal Affairs in the Council of Ministers, and all of these documents and papers are in the corridors of the state and are not just allegations.

My grandfather had a head injury that resulted in a 20 percent defect in the body, as a result of the explosion of an oil well in Kuwait.

My father Saad was born in 1961 in the KOC Hospital. My uncle Falah was born in 1959 in the KOC Hospital. One of my uncles was a prisoner of war dur-ing the brutal invasion, and so were a number of my uncles in the Kuwaiti resistance during the invasion. We also have the 1965 census and we have many certifi cates that demonstrate our entitle-ment to Kuwaiti nationality.

He urged state offi cials regarding “the need to pay attention to this elderly person and his children, honor him, and grant him his right to Kuwaiti nationali-ty, and our case is not for acquisition. We want to show the senior offi cials these papers and evidence of a man from the State of Kuwait who spent his life serv-ing his country. We want our voice to reach senior offi cials. Our hope is great in God and in senior state offi cials.”

In Kuwait since 1920Saad Al-Lafi , Abdullah Al-Lafi ,

Mazal Othman Al-Saeed, Khalifa Al-Lafi , Al-Hamlan, Al-Kazemi, Al-Sam-han and Al-Tahous testifi ed that Al-Hajj Dhahi Al-Sahw is a Kuwaiti citizen.

KUWAIT CITY, Jan 4: Head of Ku-wait’s Cultural Attache Offi ce in Egypt Dr Ahmed Al-Mutairi revealed that the Egyptian University Council (EUC) re-jected the request of Kuwait’s Cultural Attache Offi ce in Cairo to provide on-line exams for Kuwaiti students of vari-ous Egyptian universities in the event that airports continue to be closed due to the COVID-19 pandemic, reports Al-jarida daily.

In a press statement, Dr Al-Mutairi said, “The Egyptian Cultural Attache communicated with the Egyptian Minis-ter of Higher Education and the Council of Egyptian Universities, and reached an agreement with the council to organize special committees in various universi-ties to hold exams for foreign students,

including Kuwaitis if they are unable to attend”.

He indicated that the students, after the reopening of the airports, are re-quired to attend directly and address the university’s cultural attache to hold the exams for them, as decided by the spe-cial committees formed in this regard.

Dr Al-Mutairi said, “The cultural atta-che does not want to postpone exams for the students until next May in the event that the airports continue to be closed due to the COVID-19 pandemic.”

“In the event that the airport reopens before the exam dates, all students are required to offi cially attend the universi-ty to sit for the exams. In case those who wish to postpone them, there must be an offi cial excuse for the non-attendance.”

4,500 tons asphalt laid on highways in one dayThe Public Authority for Roads and Transportation announced it has laid approximately 4,500 tons of asphalt on highways on Sunday evening “within one day” in accordance with the plan and schedules set for the daily lay-

ing of asphalt, reports Al-Jarida daily.

PART sources told the daily, the work was carried on King Fahd Highway next to the Shuaiba In-dustrial Area.

The sources pointed out that

the maintenance work also includ-ed south of the Qurain Market, ‘scraping and laying asphalt’, on the right-hand safety lane.

This is in addition to the works on the same road opposite Al-Sh-uaiba Industrial Area.

Audiences of HH the AmirHis Highness the Amir Sheikh Nawaf Al-Ahmad Al-Jaber Al-Sabah received, at Bayan Palace Monday, His Highness the Crown Prince Sheikh Meshaal Al-Ahmad Al-Jaber Al-Sabah.

His Highness the Amir also re-ceived National Assembly Speaker Marzouq Al-Ghanim and His High-

ness the Prime Minister Sheikh Sa-bah Khaled Al-Hamad Al-Sabah.

His Highness the Amir received as well Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Defense Sheikh Hamad Jaber Al-Ali Al-Sabah, and Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of State for Cabinet Affairs Anas Al-Saleh. (KUNA)

were imposed on the latter due to the delayed implementation of the project.

On the other hand, the Human Re-sources Committee on Monday agreed to send letters to the National Assem-bly in order to obtain approval for the committee to follow up the implemen-tation of the replacement policy and recruitment of citizens in the public and private sectors.

StrategyIn a press statement, committee

member MP Muhammad Hadi Al-Hewaila unveiled the panel’s plan to meet with representatives of the Civil Service Commission (CSC), Ministry of Education and Higher Education, and other concerned institutions to discuss the strategy for linking the educational outputs with the actual manpower needs of the labor market.

Meanwhile, Chairman of the Hu-man Rights Committee MP Thamer Al-Suwait confi rmed that the commit-tee discussed its work program and priorities on Monday. He said they also talked about the recent murder and suicide cases and circumstances leading to these incidents. He revealed the committee will invite Minister of Interior Sheikh Thamer Ali Al-Sabah to its next meeting to tackle the human rights conditions in jails and detention centers.

He also announced that on Tuesday he intends to submit a proposal to re-fer those involved in the untoward in-cidents during the inaugural session of the Assembly to the Public Prosecu-tion, adding that 10 MPs have signed the proposal. The lawmaker said HH the Prime Minister Sheikh Sabah Al-Khalid will be questioned about the incidents, since he witnessed the ses-sion.

In another development, MP Osa-ma Al-Menawer has submitted a bill to specify the standard salary scale. He argued it is unacceptable that one of two employees who graduated from the same college and in the same year receives a salary of KD 800 while the other receives KD 2,000. He said the bill shall amend the privileges and al-lowances granted to senior offi cials in order to balance the remunerations.

He also presented a bill to stop giv-ing grants or loans to other countries without the approval of the Assembly. He clarifi ed this bill is not applicable to Kuwait Fund for Arab Economic Development because a special law was ratifi ed for this fund. However, he intends to propose amending the law to prevent the fund from waiving off loans without the Assembly’s ap-proval.

He will submit another proposal to cancel the decision of the Assembly Offi ce to conduct investigations into the incidents in the opening session, because this task should be assigned to the committee that the Assembly formed for such purpose.

MP Marzouq Al-Khalifa submitted a proposal to name the Nazaha build-ing after the late Sheikh Nasser Sa-bah Al-Ahmad Al-Jaber Al-Sabah in recognition of his outstanding role in combating corruption.

ProposedMP Ali Al-Qattan proposed the al-

location of spaces along the coastal areas for the youths to start their own businesses like play areas, cafés and canteens. He said this will be imple-mented through the concerted efforts of concerned institutions like the Pub-lic Authority for Sports, Ministry of State for Youth Affairs, and National Fund for Small and Medium Enter-prises.

Furthermore, MP Osama Al-Shaheen forwarded queries to Minis-ter of Justice Nawaf Al-Yasseen about the steps taken by Kuwait Anti-Cor-ruption Authority (Nazaha) and Public Prosecution to combat corruption and money laundering in order to protect the reputation of Kuwait and prevent the decline of its ratings in global credit indexes.

He asked about the role of Nazaha and the prosecution in investigating the Panama documents, Paradise pa-pers and fi les leaked by the Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (Fin-CEN) in America. He disclosed there are about 200,000 suspicious docu-ments in which the amount involved is estimated at KD610 million from 1999 to 2017.

MP Farz Al-Daihani forwarded queries to Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Defense Sheikh Hamad Jaber Al-Ali Al-Sabah about the news published by Al-Qabas daily which quoted the US State Department as saying that it approved armament deals with Kuwait including Apache helicopters and other equipment val-ued at $4 billion.

If this is true, the lawmaker re-quested for details including the list of equipment and helicopters and amount of the deal. He asked if the ministry conducted a study to determine if it really needs this type of helicopters, if other Arab countries purchased such helicopters from the same company, if the ministry dealt with the company directly or through brokers, and if the ministry obtained approval from the monitoring institutions to proceed with the deal.

LOCALARAB TIMES, TUESDAY, JANUARY 5, 2021

5

Other Voices

Enemies, friends of ChamberBy Ahmad alsarraf

THE board members of the Kuwait Chamber of Commerce and Indus-try are not satanic and the Chamber is not controlled by a group of vampires, as some sick minded people like to de-scribe it.

The Chamber is not alien or a new institution. Its members are brothers, they have families, they are sons of a family, fathers and have sisters work-ing for the state, and retirees. They are affi liated to the rest of soci-ety, and what-ever spectrum they belong to, their prosper-ity and happi-ness is part of the prosperity of the rest and their presence inevitably does not constitute any threat to any party. Since Kuwait’s inception, they have been the backbone of the state’s economy and there is no modern and normal society, which cannot live without the business class.

A merchant, like any other person, seeks to achieve maximum profi t, and the employee seeks to obtain highest salary, all within clear rules and laws. If the state’s plots are given to the mer-chant at a low rental value, for exam-ple, then this is not his fault, and it is absurd to expect or ask the government to rein in the merchant.

The same applies to employees of the Ministry of Oil, for example, whose salaries were raised to fabulous levels, compared to others, and no one expected them to take the initiative and demand the government to reduce their salaries to be equal with those be-low them, thus, what is the difference between an employee who accepts a salary from the government while he knows well that it is very high and a merchant who accepts a rent while he knows that it is low?

Those who attacked the Chamber’s statement did not realize, and they had their reasons, that it is in the interest of the merchant or the industrialist to raise the standard of living of commu-nity members, and not the other way around, as some have portrayed be-cause this has a direct positive impact on his trade.

On the other hand, it is in the interest of the Chamber’s merchants and indus-trialists to encourage the state’s gen-erosity with citizens, and employees obtaining the highest salaries, bonuses

and discounts on basic commodities, but they know the danger of this on the state economy.

From this point of view and out of a sense of responsibility, the Chamber, represented by all its members, issued a statement denouncing the weakness of the public administration and the complete offi cial and popular bias to-wards exaggerating its services to the citizen, at the expense of future needs without carrying out a real and long-awaited economic reform.

In its statement, the Chamber also called for the reform of basic struc-tural imbalances, addressing the de-mographics, limiting the dominance of the public sector, preventing mo-nopoly, the need to impose income tax without prejudice to the pocket of those of limited income, re-pricing public services, raising the rental value of state property, restructuring subsi-dies, rationalizing them and directing them to those who deserve it, so one may wonder: Where is the crime of the Chamber here? What is so illogical and unfair about these claims is that some people describe the Chamber members as vampires?

What is wrong in its criticism of the infl ation of public consumer spending is the continuing and increasing pub-lic budget defi cit, the deterioration of public services and infrastructure, the decline in the level of education, the government’s failure to address cor-ruption, and the warning against reduc-ing the state’s sovereign credit rating?

Is not all of this suffi cient to make the ‘nation in real danger’ real? The focus of some on the decrease in the rental value of state’s industrial and service plots, and the need to raise it is evidence that they do not under-stand the mechanism of commercial work because every rent increase will be paid for by the consumer, knowing there is no sane merchant who opposes the government raising the rents of state property if this is done within an integrated economic plan.

Trade is profi t, loss, suffering, fa-tigue, effort, and risk. In the Corona crisis, thousands of merchants and industrialists lost their jobs, their sav-ings, and all of their future. Did anyone have mercy on them?

Finally: The well-being of the citi-zen and the resident depends on the strength of the state’s economy, and not paying attention to this aspect un-der the pretext that the ultimate ben-efactor will be the merchant is a dan-gerous shortsightedness for which we all will pay.

❑ ❑ ❑

e-mail: a.alsarraf@alqabas.com.kw

alsarraf

KUNA photoHis Highness the Prime Minister Sheikh Sabah Khaled Al-Hamad Al-Sabah during his recent visit to the Headquarters of the Kuwait National Guard.

‘Family Home’ for prisoners to allownear & dear visits, conjugal relations

Site located in Sulaibiya Prison Complex

KUWAIT CITY, Jan 4: The requirement of legal seclusion and con-jugal visits for prison-ers with their spouses is close to implemen-tation. After years of inmates from correc-tional institutions, or-ganizations and human rights societies in the country demanding this right, four govern-ment and charitable agencies have started procedures to estab-lish a “family home” for detainees inside the Central Prison. They will be allowed to re-ceive their families, and conjugal visits be-tween spouses will be permitted, reports Al-Qabas daily.

Chairman of the Board of Directors of Kuwait Society for Abstinent Families Bader Al-Mubarak explained that the “family home”, which the society will oversee under the umbrella of the Ministry of Social Affairs with the coop-eration of the Ministry of Interior and with generous funding from the Kuwait Awqaf Public Foundation, aims to promote general prin-ciples of human rights, as well as reform, refine and correct the behavior of both male and female inmates by achieving a suitable family environment for their guests and reunion of their families.

DemandIn order to fulfill this humani-

tarian demand, the government agencies, headed by the Ministry of Interior, are seeking to pro-vide reasons for reuniting fami-lies of the inmates through the family home, and create an opportunity for families to once again live for some time in a family atmosphere whereby grandparents, parents, spouses, children and grandchildren can enjoy an atmosphere of love and harmony with their family mem-ber who is an inmate.

He said, “The family home will allow for conjugal visits, taking into account the regulations speci-fied by Islamic law, and ensuring this pioneering addition in the prison complex area is in line with the recommendations of the proto-cols and conventions of interna-tional human rights bodies and organizations.”

Al-Mubarak indicated that the proposed site for the family home is within the walls of the Prison Complex in Sulaibiya area, next to the Operations Department of the Correctional Institutions Affairs and Judgment Enforcement Sector.

He revealed that the building will have an entrance and a recep-tion hall for inmates, in addition to living units, whereby each unit will contain a living room, a bed-room, a kitchen and a bathroom.

Al-Mubarak revealed that the family home project will be imple-mented soon, taking into account all the legal and security controls required in this regard for its imple-mentation under a societal partner-ship, fruitful and constructive coop-

eration among the Ministry of Interior, state institutions and public benefit associations. It is based on the prisons organization Law No. 26/1962, which includes the right of an imprisoned husband to be alone with his wife as per specific condi-tions and controls.

He said, “The philosophy of the family home is based on the estab-lishment of a hotel for inmates within the walls of the prison and with all necessary facilities for open family day visits in order for inmates to meet their first-degree relatives and with the aim of pre-serving familial and social aspects.” Four entities handling the project are:

1. The Kuwait Association for Abstinent Families.

2. The Ministry of Social Affairs.

3. The Ministry of Interior.4. The General Secretariat of

Awqaf Al-Mubarak said, “Fatwa No. 157/2000 issued by the Ministry of Awqaf and Islamic Affairs endorsed the conjugal visit project based on its compatibility with the principles of Islamic law and humanitarian rules.” He stressed that the project aims to achieve the human aspects, work on directing the behavior of inmates, and reduce the anoma-lous practices of some inmates, adding that it also effectively con-

tributes to preserving the cohesion of families.

Al-Mubarak thanked the under-secretary of the Ministry of Interior, who encouraged the start of the construction of the family home for inmates of the General Administration of Correctional Institutions, and for supporting the nomination of the Kuwait Society for Abstinent Families. He praised the role of the Deputy Secretary General of Endowment Banks in the Kuwait Awqaf Public Foundation Mansour Al-Saqabi for his support of the idea of estab-lishing a family home for inmates of the General Administration of Correctional Institutions.

Firemen pull out the corpse of the woman.

Woman’s corpse foundPersonnel from the Criminal Evidenc-es Department have found the corpse of a woman in an uninhabited area off King Fahd Expressway and said the woman’s identity and cause of death will be disclosed after the autopsy is done, reports Al-Anba daily.

The security authorities have ruled out suicide but weigh heavily on crimi-nal suspicion.

The Directorate-General of Fire De-partment (DGFD) issued a statement

late yesterday evening, stating fi re-men retrieved the body of a woman who had ‘allegedly’ committed suicide by hanging from a tree in an isolated dirt area in Sabahiya area.

The daily added, the site of the inci-dent impeded the work of the fi remen because it was diffi cult to reach the ‘suicide’ site.

The fi remen used special equip-ment to reach the spot part of which was muddy and shallow.

‘Motorists need to visit GTD for some fi nes’

Steps to pay for traffi c offenses onlineKUWAIT CITY, Jan 4: The COVID-19 pandemic has in-creased the need for online completion of transactions through a mechanism that en-sures social distancing and non-gathering of the public, reports Al-Anba daily.

In this context, the impor-tance of the information ser-vice for traffi c violations in Kuwait lies in identifying the number and type of traffi c vio-lations that have been record-ed against a motorist in order to prepare for the payment of relevant fi nes. This elec-tronic service comes within the framework of the Kuwaiti government’s endeavor to de-velop all government services provided to the public, and reduce the burden on govern-ment employees by reducing the convergence of clients at various government depart-ments.

Kuwait’s Ministry of Interior is keen to ensure the safety and security of motorists on differ-ent roads in all governorates due to which it has set neces-sary rules and regulations that must be adhered to by all in or-der to ensure the safety of both motorists and pedestrians on the roads.

A number of penalties com-mensurate with each of the traf-fi c offenses, the value of which varies depending on the sever-ity of the violation.

The penalties that appear when inquiring about traffi c offenses can be either fi nes or imprisonment, based on what law enforcement offi cials deem appropriate to the gravity of the violation committed.

In this regard, the Ministry of Interior has allowed citi-zens and residents in Kuwait to check traffi c violations elec-tronically through the offi cial website of the ministry.

Traffi c violations can be in-quired about using the Civil ID number of the motorist through the following steps:

1. Enter the offi cial website of Kuwait’s Ministry of Interior - www.moi.gov.kw/main

2. Choose “e-services” from the home page

3. Click on “General Traf-fi c Department from the drop-down list

4. Click on “Pay Fines” from the available services

5. Enter the user’s Civil ID number

6. Click on the “Inquiry” icon in order to identify the type of the violation registered against

the driver and the fi ne amountTraffi c offenses that are reg-

istered against motorists in Ku-wait are divided into violations that can be paid electronically and violations that cannot be paid electronically.

In terms of payments, the violations that can be paid electronically are paid through one of the available methods of electronic payment, and for the rest of the violations, the motorist must visit the traffi c department in order to pay the fi nes.

It should be noted that traffi c violations that are successfully paid are made clear through the website about 15 minutes after payment. Therefore, it is advised not to pay again in the event that the payment has been made and the violation contin-ues to appear in the user’s ac-count.

Nonetheless, everything related to the process of in-quiring about traffi c viola-tions, starting from opening an account on the portal to the detailed inquiry steps, can be viewed on the Ministry of Interior’s website - https://www.moi.gov.kw/main, un-der articles section, where all instructions are listed.

Top 110 offi cers retired: Kuwait Armed Forces Chief of Staff Lieutenant General Sheikh Khaled Al-Saleh recent-ly issued a decision on the retirement of 110 offi cers with the rank of brigadier general and colonel in ac-cordance with Ar-ticles 82 and 83 of the Military Law, which allows the Chief of Staff and his deputy to refer any offi cer for re-tirement, reports Al-Jarida daily quoting sources from the military sector.

Sources disclosed the decision is aimed at pumping young blood into the Armed Forces and develop all military sectors which are currently witnessing vast mod-ernization process at the administrative, combat and technical levels.

Sources affi rmed the military sectors are currently implementing advance-ment procedures covering weapon technology, training operations and lo-gistical support. Sources explained this requires the development and prepara-tion of manpower to deal with the pro-cess that requires skills to manage the work in accordance with the new vision of the Defense Ministry.

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From 3 to 2 shifts: The Director-General of the Rescue Police, Major-General Abdulaziz Al-Hajri, issued a circular which calls for two shifts duty instead of the three, reports Al-Anba

daily.The decision contained in the circu-

lar, a copy of which has been obtained by the daily, came into force as of Dec 30, 2020, according to which the shift hours will be from 6:00 am until 6:00 pm and from 6:00 pm until 6:00 am.

The circular included several instruc-tions, such as wearing what it called ‘clear-cut’ navy dress, and continuing and recording the names of the offi cials at the beginning of the fi rst and second shifts.

Car fi re probed

Man dies in blazeKUWAIT CITY, Jan 4: A Kuwaiti died when his car caught fi re at the entrance to the Khairan area, reports Al-Rai daily.

According to security sources when the Operations Room of the Ministry of Interior received a report on the incident police and paramedics rushed to the spot but could do nothing. The Kuwaiti had succumbed to the burn injuries. The cause of the fi re is not known.

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Egyptian killed: A 41-year-old Egyptian died after he was run over by a Kuwaiti on the Airport Road opposite Farwaniya, reports Al-Seyassah daily.

The daily added, the victim was crossing the road when the accident took place. The corpse has been re-ferred to Forensics and the Kuwaiti detained at the area police station.

News in Brief

Sheikh Khaled

KUNA photoState Minister for Cabinet Affairs Anas Khaled Al-Saleh receives a copy of the organizational guide from the

Kuwait Fire Services Department.

LOCAL/MIDEASTARAB TIMES, TUESDAY, JANUARY 5, 2021

6

Egypt, Ethiopia, Sudan resume talks over disputed dam

Egypt opens probe on 4 virus patients’ ICU deaths amid controversyCAIRO, Jan 4, (AP): Egyptian pros-ecutors opened an investigation into the deaths Sunday of at least four coronavirus patients at a public Egyptian hospital, after a video of nurses struggling to keep the patients alive was shared widely on social media.

The governor of Sharqia province denied allegations by a relative of one of the patients that the deaths were caused by a lack of oxygen at the government-run intensive care unit treating COVID-19 patients. Gov. Mamdouh Ghorab said the patients died because they suffered chronic dis-eases in addition to the virus.

The relative, who also filmed the video, offered no immediate evidence to back up their claim that the hospital ran out of oxygen.

Egypt, the Arab world’s most popu-lous country with more than 100 mil-lion people, is facing a surge in con-firmed virus cases and renewed calls for the government to impose a lock-

down to contain a second wave of the pandemic.

The Sharqia prosecutor’s office said they were investigating the deaths. The hospital director and doctors were being questioned, according to an offi-cial at the public prosecutor’s office in Cairo who spoke on condition of ano-nymity because they were not autho-rized to brief the media.

The four dead were two women in their 60s and two men, 76 and 44 years old, according to a local news outlet. There are currently 36 virus patients being treated at the hospital’s isolation ward, the governor said.

The deaths follow similar allega-tions by a relative last week that two patients died because of a lack of oxy-gen at a government-run hospital else-where in the Nile Delta. Prosecutors in Menoufiya province have launched an investigation into the cause of the deaths Friday.

Egypt’s top health authority has announced that a Chinese vaccine

made by Sinopharm has been approved for emergency use, and inoculations would begin within two weeks. In televised comments Saturday, Health Minister Hala Zayed said negotiations were also underway to procure two other vaccines - one from Oxford University and AstraZeneca, as well as one from Pfizer and its German part-ner BioNTech.

Finance Minister Mohamed Maait said last month that the government has contracted to purchase 20 million doses of the Pfizer/BioNTech vaccine and 30 million doses of the AstraZeneca vaccine, according to the state-run Al-Ahram daily.

Egypt has seen a spike in daily reported COVID-19 cases in recent weeks. The Health Ministry announced over 1,400 new cases and 54 deaths on Saturday, one of the highest official daily tallies since the start of the pan-demic last year.

Overall, Egypt has reported 140,878 confirmed cases, including 7,741

deaths. However, the actual number of COVID-19 cases in Egypt are thought to be far higher, in part due to limited testing and uncounted patients who are being treated at home or in private hospitals.

Also:CAIRO: Egypt, Ethiopia and Sudan resumed their years-long negotiations Sunday over the controversial dam Ethiopia is building on the Blue Nile, officials said.

The resumption came six weeks after Khartoum boycotted talks in November, urging the African Union to play a greater role in reaching a deal over the disputed Grand Ethiopia Renaissance Dam.

The negotiations have centered on the filling and operation of the giant dam. Key questions remain about how much water Ethiopia will release downstream if a multi-year drought occurs and how the three countries will resolve any future dis-

putes. Ethiopia has rejected binding arbitration at the final stage of the project.

The foreign and irrigation ministers of the three Nile Valley countries met online Sunday, said Ahmed Hafez, the spokesman of Egypt’s Foreign Ministry. Sudan also confirmed the meeting.

Ethiopia’s Water and Energy Minister Seleshi Bekele said earlier the meeting was called by South Africa, the current head of the African Union, and that U.S. observers and AU experts would attend.

Sudan’s Irrigation Ministry said the three counties would hold separate talks with the AU experts and observ-ers before a three-party meeting on Jan. 10.

In November, Sudan did not attend a round of talks called by South Africa, arguing that the current approach to reaching a tripartite agreement on the filling and operation of Ethiopia’s dam had not yielded results.

Sudanese Irrigation Minister Yasser Abbas said at the time that the AU should do more to “facilitate the nego-tiation and bridge the gap between the three parties.”

Africa’s largest hydroelectric dam has caused severe tensions between the three nations.

Egypt has called it an existential threat and worries that it will reduce the country’s share of Nile waters.

The Arab’s world most populous country relies almost entirely on the Nile to supply water for agriculture and its more than 100 million people. About 85% of the river’s flow origi-nates from Ethiopia.

Ethiopia says the $4.6 billion dam will be an engine of development that will pull millions of people out of pov-erty. Sudan, in the middle, worries about the effects on its own dams, although it stands to benefit from access to cheap electricity.

Minister seeks oil industry ‘boost’ tokeep pace with latest developments

‘Oil sector lifeblood of Kuwait’

KUWAIT CITY, Jan 4: The oil sector is considered the lifeblood of Kuwait, as it is the main pillar for the devel-opment of economic performance and the backbone that feeds the State budget; hence, the country is keen on strengthening its oil industry to keep pace with the latest global and regional developments, reports Annahar daily.

Speaking to the daily, Minister of Oil, Electricity and Water Dr Muhammad Al-Faris revealed that his priorities include supporting the five-year strategy of Kuwait Petroleum Corporation (KPC) as follows:

First: Restructuring oil companies to ensure smooth flow of work in these companies for them to be more integrated and effective, with emphasis on protect-ing the rights and gains of workers in the oil sector.

Second: Kuwaitization of the oil sector and building national engineering expertise with high potential to man-age oil sector projects effectively.

Third: Rationalize and reduce capi-tal operating expenditures, and focus on raising completion rates and avoid-ing delays in ongoing projects.

Fourth: Developing an integrated strategy to complete the digital trans-formation of the oil sector.

Fifth: Developing a plan to ratio-nalize energy consumption in oil sec-tor operations and push towards the use of renewable energy.

Strategic oil projects are among the most vital projects included in the country’s economic and social devel-opment plan; especially the environ-mental fuel projects, fourth refinery and petrochemical complex, which are primarily aimed at boosting economic performance and achieving the 2035 vision of Kuwait.

In other news, the Kuwait Stock Exchange indices eliminated two-thirds of its losses due to the COVID-19 crisis in 2020, which exceeded the 30-percent barrier in the second quar-ter, to drop to only 13.1 percent by the end of the year. The general index losses decreased to 11.6 percent, and market value losses decreased to KD 3.3 billion, to stabilize at KD 33 bil-lion, reports Al-Qabas daily.

While nine of the stock market sec-tors incurred various levels of losses, three sectors achieved record profits in 2020 - insurance, consumer goods and oil and gas sectors. The utilities sector remained unchanged.

The insurance sector, which includes eight companies, topped the winning sectors in 2020, with market gains of 26.9 percent . It was followed by the consumer goods sector, which achieved returns of 17.4 percent, and then the oil and gas sector with gains of 6.9 percent.

PerformanceOn the other hand, the telecommu-

nications sector was the least affected by the COVID-19 crisis, which was reflected in the performance of the sector’s stocks with slight loss of 0.9 percent, followed by the basic materi-als sector with a loss of 1.2 percent.

Despite the severe damage to global financial markets, including the Kuwait Stock Exchange, as a result of the crisis, the financial services sector particularly the investment companies managed to reduce its losses to 1.7 percent by the end of 2020, as a result of improvement in the performance of their investments in global markets that compensated for a large part of their losses, or by benefiting from the MSCI stock exchange promotion.

Also, the healthcare sector incurred losses reaching 7.7 percent as a result of the government’s precautionary measures to confront the pandemic, which resulted in complete and partial lockdown for long periods during which clinics and some private health centers were closed.

On the other hand, the consumer services sector topped the list of the most affected sectors in 2020, as a result of closure of the activities of the companies under this sector, including cinemas, airlines, and entertainment centers, ending the year with losses amounting to 24.1 percent.

As for the banking sector, it was the second largest sector affected last year, with market losses amounting to 14.4 percent, as a result of the record decline in its profits after bearing the cost of delay in payment of install-ments for a period of six months, and fears of non-distribution of profits, in addition to concerns that investors have about the continuing difficult economic repercussions on various sectors, which will inevitably end up in allocations due to defaulting compa-nies and individuals.

Also, the balance of foreign owner-ship in Kuwaiti banks by the end of last year reached about KD 1.9 bil-lion, through their possession of 2.9 billion shares with a share of KD 1.1 billion in the National Bank of Kuwait and KD 529 million in Kuwait Finance House.

KUNA photoMinister of Oil and Minister of Electricity and Water Dr Muhammad Al-Faris during the inspection tour.

Al-Faris praises employees’ efforts and commitment to work

Minister inspects sectors affiliated to MEWBy Muhammad Ghanem

Al-Seyassah Staff

KUWAIT CITY, Jan 4: Minister of Oil and Minister of Electricity and Water Dr Muhammad Al-Faris has called on senior officials of the Ministry of Electricity and Water to support the diligent employees and adopt their creative ideas and projects that would develop the work system.

The minister said this while he was on an inspection tour of a number of

departments affiliated to the ministry accompanied by the Undersecretary of Ministry of Electricity Engineer Jassem Al-Nouri, and the assistant undersecretaries Hamoud Al-Roudhan and Eng Mutlaq Al-Otaibi.

During the inspection visit Minister Al-Faris listened to the remarks of some employees on how to improve the performance of the sectors and the minister promised to look into them.

Al-Faris congratulated the employ-ees on the occasion of the New Year,

praising their efforts and commitment to work, especially during public holi-days.

The Minister’s inspection tour included emergency monitoring around the area, emergency manage-ment of electrical distribution net-works in the electrical distribution net-works sector, Salmiya water emergen-cy center, and Mina Abdu