Demographic Imbalance To Be Corrected, Quota For Every Nationality Inappropriate: Speaker

As Kuwait seeks to address demographic imbalance speaker of the National Assembly Marzouq Al Ghanim said that it is inappropriate to specify quota for every nationality. He disclosed that Article 4 of the Bill, that he along with other MP’s plan to submit soon, mandates that the Council of Ministers take decisions only after 6 months of the enforcement of the Bill and specify the number of expatriates, so that the aim will be to reduce expatriates gradually, pointing out that it was unusual for any country to have 70 per cent of its population as foreigners.

He indicated that there are almost 1.3 million illiterate people in Kuwait as per the statistics of the Public Authority of Civil Information hence addressing the demographic imbalance issue should not be limited to just reducing the number of expatriates but rather their areas  of specialisation should be taken into consideration.

The Bill will also have an expatriate fund set up to ensure that all expatriates receive their full rights and compensation for any damages, and that they should be treated fairly before their departure. The fund will be financed by different resources including the fines and fees collected from expatriates. The proposed Bill will also have an insurance scheme that will protect the rights of all expatriate workers

The Speaker pointed out that visa trading was among the main reasons for demograhic imbalance so putting an end to visa trade was the best solution. He said visa traders do not bring in Doctors, Engineers and Scientists while emphasising that the country will continue to need the services of expatriates with specialisation.

Kuwait has begun clamping down on visa traders and in a first of its kind action Kuwaitis have been jailed for illegal sale of visas. Minister of Interior, Anas Al Saleh, announced that 282 cases, involving 417 companies, are being reviewed by the Public Prosecution for illegal visa trading. During a televised programme recently, Al Saleh mentioned that so far there are 526 people, 47 of which are citizens, involved in illegal visa trading.

Source Link

Comments Post Comment

Leave a Comment

Submit