KUWAIT CITY, Oct 28: MP Mehalhal Al-Mudhaf has forwarded queries to Minister of State for Municipal and Communication Affairs Fahd Al-Shaulah about the administrative and legal violations in the Central Agency for Information and Technology (CAIT). He wants to know the reasons behind the resignation of the CAIT chairman in November 2022 with the vice-chairman being appointed as acting chairman as per ministerial decision number 304/2022 issued on Nov 22, 2022; why a new chairman has not been appointed till date considering the vital role of CAIT in maintaining national cybersecurity; if the list of officials nominated for the position was forwarded to the Council of Ministers and reasons if the answer is ‘no’; assessment requirements for employees at CAIT since 2019 till date; number of employees who were terminated for failing the assessment; number of employees hired since 2019 till date; if it is true that the assessment requirements are subjective such that the senior administration officials can fire employees according to their whims; if the assessment procedures are in line with Civil Service Commission (CSC) decision number 36/ 2006; if the assessment scores of employees were reduced in 2019, 2020, 2021 and 2022; if there are reports on the assessment of employees in the last five years comparing their scores with the previous years; if action on employees’ complaints regarding promotions has been suspended; if the CSC approved the new organizational structure despite the violation of the law on establishing CAIT; if the agency’s system has been hacked but it was not revealed to the public; and losses incurred due to the incident if the answer is in the affirmative.

He also asked Deputy Prime Minister, Minister of State for National Assembly and Cabinet Affairs Essa Al- Kandari about the total amount spent on recovering the public funds stolen by the former Public Institution for Social Security (PIFSS) chairman, including the cost of hiring attorneys and travel of the representatives of monitoring institutions to follow up the case. MP Soud Al-Asfour asked Deputy Prime Minister, Minister of Oil, and State Minister for Economic and Investment Affairs Saad Al-Barrak about the completion percentage of Abdullah Port, the date of opening the port, its capacity, the total cost of the project, factors leading to the delay if any, number of variation orders, cost, reasons and fine imposed on the contractor.

He asked Minister of Public Works Amani Bugamaz about the maintenance of roads in Mangaf, the date of maintenance works, and the contractor. He also asked the Minister of Commerce and Industry and State Minister for Youth Affairs Muhammad Al-Aiban about the measures taken to stop the smuggling of subsidized food products, which are either sold in the black market or sent abroad; and if the Ministry of Commerce and Industry coordinates with Kuwait General Administration of Customs to prevent the smuggling of such products.

He asked Minister of Health Ahmed Al-Awadhi why Mangaf Clinic does not operate 24/7, number of ambulances that the ministry owns including the manufacturing and acquisition dates, if it is true that the new ambulances do not meet the specifications indicated in the purchase contracts, copy of the technical report, strategy of the ministry to deal with emergencies, number of individuals that the ambulances can transport every hour, if the ministry signed insurance contracts for the ambulances, cost of the insurance compared to the value of the ambulances, number of Kuwaitis and expatriates assigned in the medical emergency field, number of Kuwaiti and expatriate employees hired in the last 10 years, if the ministry conducted a study on the low number of Kuwaiti employees in the medical emergency field, if the ministry asked the CSC to put Kuwaitis employed in the medical emergency field under the rare specialization category, if they are given additional bonus or allowances, and if the ministry asked PIFSS to include the medical emergency technicians to the hazardous job category. Meanwhile, National Assembly Speaker Ahmed Al-Saadoun sent a cable to the Speaker of the Senate in the Czech Republic Milo Vystcil, and Speaker of the House of Representatives Markéta Bakarová Adamová to greet them on their National Day.

By Saeed Mahmoud Saleh
Al-Seyassah/Arab Times Staff