Bill to delete Article 153 of Penal Code No. 16/1960 submitted

KUWAIT CITY, Feb 3: MP Safa’a Al-Hashem has submitted a bill on deleting Article 153 of Penal Code number 16/1960 stating that a man who kills his wife, daughter, sister or mother after catching her in the act of committing adultery will be imprisoned for three years maximum and fined KD3,000 maximum or any of these two penalties.

She pointed out this article violates articles Seven, Nine, 29, 34 and 70 of the Constitution. She said Article 135 of the Penal Code allows the man in this case to kill the accused and exempts him from the penalties (death or lifetime imprisonment) stipulated in articles 149 and 150 of the same code. She added the article contravenes the Islamic Sharia and commitments of Kuwait as a signatory to the relevant international treaties

Al-Hashem announced that the Financial Affairs Committee met Monday but, as usual, no other members attended except herself, MP Khalaf Al-Anzi and MP Majid Al-Mutairi.

She thinks there are two reasons behind the other members’ repeated absences -- one is that the committee is chaired by a woman and this might not be good for some MPs. She asserted this conveys a negative message to Kuwaiti women whose votes are important for such MPs.

She revealed the second reason is the sensitive nature of the committee, considering the vital draft laws referred to it. She said she previously heard some of her colleagues arguing that being a member of this committee is dangerous because they will be in an embarrassing position in front of their voters in case the bills which are vital to citizens are rejected.

She affirmed receiving written apologies from the absent MPs including those who submitted their resignation. Citing Article 17 of the Assembly Decree, Al-Hashem pointed out that apologizing for not attending a meeting following the submission of a resignation letter means the MP decided to withdraw his resignation.

She added the committee continued discussions on the proposed amendment of the Precautionary Settlement, Reconstruction and Bankruptcy Law in the presence of Minister of Commerce and Industry Khalid Al-Rawdan who was accompanied by a big team.

She believes this bill, once ratified, will put Kuwait in an advanced position as a ‘sophisticated market’. She thinks it is necessary to invite representatives of the concerned financial and economic institutions such as the Central Bank of Kuwait (CBK), Capital Markets Authority (CMA), Kuwait Chamber of Commerce and Industry (KCCI), Investment Companies Union and Kuwait Economic Society in order to hear their opinions on this vital bill.

She clarified the existing law, which was ratified 40 years ago, states that declaring an individual or a company bankrupt entails social, political and financial execution. She said the law stipulates the establishment of four main entities -- secretary, bankruptcy committee, bankruptcy judge, and bankruptcy court. She pointed out that her proposal stipulates there is no need to reach the final stage of declaring bankruptcy as procedures will be taken in the early stages to address the problems immediately.

Furthermore, the Budgets and Final Accounts Committee issued a press statement on the budget of the Education Ministry; stressing the high budget of the ministry does not match the low level of educational outputs.

The committee also confirmed receiving a response from the State Audit Bureau (SAB) regarding the cost of consultancy services provided by World Bank which reached $35 million. According to the committee, the bureau affirmed that the agreement with World Bank on the quality of education did not achieve the desired results; taking into consideration that the position of Kuwait in the elementary education index declined compared to other GCC countries.

The bureau added Kuwait ranked the lowest among GCC countries and 111th globally in the secondary education index by the end of fiscal 2017/2018. On the other hand, MP Omar Al-Tabtabaei highlighted in a press statement the alleged corruption at Kuwait Institute for Scientific Research (KISR) in terms of appointments and granting privileges to expatriate employees at the expense of citizens.

He said he had earlier submitted parliamentary questions in this regard, adding that he intends to develop his own mechanism in combating corruption at KISR. He revealed KISR spends KD 60 million per year, while its revenue is less than KD 4 million. He went on to say that KISR owns Kazma Mineral Water Company, claiming the director of the institute distributes 35 percent of the company’s production for free.

He warned that he will grill HH the Prime Minister Sheikh Sabah Al-Khaled Al-Sabah or Minister of Education and Higher Education Dr Saud Hilal Al-Harbi if these violations continue.

Also, MP Muhammad Al-Dallal has submitted a proposal to amend Civil Service Commission (CSC) resolution number 13/1980, particularly Article Eight stipulating that teachers are not granted study leaves. He proposed allowing teachers to go on study leaves in order to conduct technical, cultural, literary and artistic researches

By Saeed Mahmoud Saleh Arab Times Staff