Budget approval not transparent: MP

KUWAIT CITY, Aug 16: MP Osama Al- Shaheen has submitted a proposal for the concerned institution to create a safety manual/ decree for escalators and conduct regular inspection campaigns to ensure strict compliance with the rules in this regard. Al-Shaheen decided to submit the proposal after hearing news about a child who got injured while on the escalator. He pointed out the absence of a button to stop the escalator worsened the situation; hence, the need to ensure that all escalators have a button to stop the machine immediately in case of emergency.

Meanwhile, MP Abdullah Al-Mudaf forwarded queries to Minister of Foreign Affairs and State Minister for Cabinet Affairs Sheikh Ahmad Nasser Al-Muhammad about the cybersecurity project which, he revealed, costs KD118 million. He requested for copies of studies on the project, comparison between the cost of the project in Kuwait and in neighboring countries, offers of companies that participated in the bidding for the project, institution tasked to execute and operate the project, and institution authorized to sign the contract.

MP Hesham Al-Saleh asked Deputy Prime Minister, Minister of Justice and Minister of State for Nazaha Enhancement Abdullah Al-Roumi about the recruitment process at the Experts Directorate in the Ministry of Justice. He requested for the list of applicants who were hired but their appointment has yet to be announced; as well as the list of applicants who were hired as expert accountant, assistant expert accountant, expert engineer and assistant expert engineer; including their written exam scores, personal interview scores, qualifications, year of graduation and the universities where they graduated. He wants to know the average time allotted for personal interview, number of applicants who passed the written exam, number of those who did not pass the personal interview in general, number of those with excellent academic grades who did not pass the interview, criteria for personal interview, if personal interviews are recorded or not, copy of the recording if the answer is yes, reason for not recording the personal interviews if the answer is no, names and positions of the members of the committee tasked to conduct personal interviews, if those who checked the written exams know the names and civil ID numbers of the applicants, number of recruitment or appointment-related lawsuits filed against the ministry since 2010 till date, number of such cases in which the ministry lost, and if the ministry used public funds to pay compensation to the aggrieved party.

MP Muhammad Al-Huwaila forwarded queries to Minister of Finance and Minister of State for Economic and Investment Affairs Khalifa Hamada on the alleged rejection of the budget that the Public Authority for Applied Education and Training (PAAET) needs for the construction of institutes in Sabah Al- Ahmad residential area. He said several students are suffering, because their institutes are located in Shuwaikh, which is almost 100 kilometers away from their houses. Therefore, he wants to know the reasons for rejecting the budget if the aforementioned allegation is true; stressing these students are in dire need of institutes near their homes. By Saeed Mahmoud Saleh Arab Times Staff