‘may God Help Those Who Have Turned 60 … Decision Still In Limbo’

“BETWEEN the hammer of the decision not to renew the work permit and the anvil imposing a thousand dinars or more for their renewal, residents who have reached the age of 60 – who do not hold university degrees or hold secondary school certificates and less – are in a dilemma because they cannot pay this large sum proposed by the Public Authority for Manpower and it is a decision with incomprehensible purpose,” columnist Mohammad Karam Behbehani wrote for Al-Seyassah daily.

“Neither is it a decision that modifies the demographic structure in Kuwait, nor is it an effective way to fight visa traders who filled the country with hundreds of thousands of marginal workers. These two reasons were mentioned by the Public Authority of Manpower to justify its odd decision; however the decision does not convince anybody at all whether from the Chamber of Commerce that had reservations about the decision, civil society, businessmen, jurists, or the workers themselves. “Is it conceivable that Kuwait, the country of humanity and the source of giving, turns its hand away from the one who gave it the fl ower of his life in her service and our good people?

“Is it reasonable that our country of humanity, generosity and compassion for the weak expel those who devoted their lives sincerely from this land — the good land that not only every Kuwaiti and resident, but the whole world lauds it? “I see a Kuwait other than the Kuwait that I know, the Kuwait of humanity and our good. Is this Kuwait that reunites and supports the weak and fights for a decent life for all humanity and not for those on its land?

“Has the day come when I write about a government body that takes a decision that harms the country and the people? “I am sad and my heart almost ‘weeps’ when I write these words about my country and my homeland. I never imagined that a Kuwaiti official would issue such a stupid and unwise decision. I never imagined that Kuwait could harm nearly 88,500 residents living on her land. “Even when the Public Authority for Manpower thought of reversing the decision, it suggested the worst by imposing an amount of 1,000 dinars to renew the work permit, although some Gulf Cooperation Council countries have been implementing such a decision for years but not with such stubbornness with workers and not with such exorbitant amounts.

“According to what was reported by media outlets and the data collected by the Gulf labor market regulations, the UAE imposed payment of 5,000 dirham to renew the work permit for two years, the equivalent of 409 Kuwaiti dinars, which is equivalent to 205 dinars annually, in addition to medical and health care at the expense of the worker’s company, while Bahrain has set private health insurance and fees at 172 Bahraini dinars per year (equivalent to 137 Kuwaiti dinars). “Whereas here in Kuwait they do not fire a bullet of mercy, but rather they shoot ‘RPGs’ at those over sixty and tell them to go and die, for you are no longer needed here.”

 

 

SOURCE  ARABTIMES

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