KUWAIT CITY, Sept 5: Chairman of the Consumer Protection Society Attorney Faisal Al-Sebaie expressed his disappointed over the mediocre measures taken by the relevant authorities to protect public health from greedy traders, who sell spoilt or contaminated food products in the local market, reports Al-Rai daily.
Al-Sebaie lamented the public health has become a minor issue for the concerned authorities, especially the ministries of Social Affairs, Labor and Commerce, leading to the spread of contaminated or expired food products in the local market.
He said no strict measure has so far been taken to prevent the distribution of contaminated or expired food items because the government has opted to remain silent over the unscrupulous activities of greedy traders.
He wondered why a country as rich as Kuwait cannot establish a modern laboratory to conduct tests on the imported food items.
Meanwhile, Secretary-General of the society Attorney Khalid Al-Dosri appealed to the government to immediately take strict measures against those proven to have violated the food safety regulations. He thinks the Ministry of Commerce is keen only on arresting the owners of small shops, which sell spoilt food products, while disregarding the violations committed by business tycoons.
Moreover, Chairman of the Social Committee at the society Khalid Al-Sebaei wondered why the Ministry of Social Affairs and Labor dissolved the boards of directors of 13 cooperative societies allegedly for engaging in corruption and manipulating prices without putting them in jail. He urged the ministry to obligate the cooperative societies to submit financial and administrative reports quarterly to prevent, if not eliminate, the violations.
Meanwhile, cooperative bill currently tabled at parliament is of major significance, as it would develop co-ops’ work and improve customers’ service, a Kuwaiti official said.
“I hope the bill would be on top of the parliament’s agenda for the next term for ratification,” Undersecretary of the Ministry of Social Affairs and Labor Mohammad Al-Kandari said. His remarks came during an honoring ceremony held by the co-ops workers’ union last night.
“The union played a major role recently in monitoring prices,” Al-Kandari said.
On his part, the union’s chairman Hussein Al-Duweihees said the prices commission will carry on with its duty in order to eradicate “unjustified and artificial” high prices.
“Since last March, the commission managed to unify prices of some 4,000 items, with no complaints coming from manufacturers or importers, which proved the commission was on the right track,” he noted.