Mps Call to Replace All Expats After Municipality Decision
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RAMADAN 25, 1441 AH MONDAY, MAY 18, 2020 20 Pages Max 42º Min 25º 150 Fils Established 1961 ISSUE NO: 18135 The First Daily in the Arabian Gulf www.kuwaittimes.net Trauma endures of South Obama: Leaders ‘aren’t even Jordan memorabilia soars 7 Korea’s Gwangju Uprising 16 pretending to be in charge’ 18 in value over ‘Last Dance’ Fajr 03:24 Dhuhr 11:44 Asr 15:20 Maghrib 18:35 Isha 20:01 MPs call to replace all expats after Municipality decision Health ministry launches random drive-through testing By B Izzak government bodies to replace their foreign employ- which can be renewed if needed. Meanwhile, the ministry of health launched ran- ees within one year and open the door for the The implementation of such an ambitious legisla- dom drive-through testing for the coronavirus, KUWAIT: MPs yesterday welcomed a decision by appointment of Kuwaitis. Kandari said the legisla- tion appears to be extremely difficult because the Health Minister Sheikh Dr Basel Al-Sabah said. The the Municipality to stop hiring expatriates and tion comes because many decisions and regulations 100,000 expats in government jobs are either high- ministry has set up a huge testing center at Jazeera accelerate procedures to dismiss them from jobs, were issued in the past to reduce the appointment ly-skilled and experienced consultants or low-paid Airways’ Park & Fly facility at the Kuwait and proposed legislation to replace all foreigners in of expats in government jobs, but these remained on employees in menial jobs. In either case, the possi- International Airport, and people will be selected the government sector by citizens. Minister of State paper without implementation. bility of finding a Kuwaiti replacement is very randomly for the test. They will receive an SMS on for Municipal Affairs Waleed Al-Jassem ordered in a He said that despite those measures, expats still remote. MP Salah Khorshed said he will submit a their mobiles, setting the date and time of the test. decision to impose a blanket ban on employing make up 26 percent of government workers and proposal to ban the appointment of foreign legal The ministry said people will be selected randomly expats in municipal jobs and start procedures must be replaced with Kuwaitis. The legislation, consultants in government jobs. MP Safa Al-Hashem from all governorates and residential areas. The aim immediately to sack all foreign employees. which must be reviewed and approved by the welcomed the Municipality decision, saying she will of the tests is to assess the spread of the disease in The decision calls to halt accepting employment National Assembly and accepted by the govern- closely monitor implementation. the country. The center can receive 15 cars at a applications by expats, cancelling appointments ment, gives all government agencies a period of one The new move comes amid tremendous pres- time. under process and stopping the renewal of con- year to terminate all their foreign employees. sures on expatriates employed in the private sector Sheikh Basel also said that the total curfew tracts of existing employees. To compensate for for- The proposed law calls on government agencies because of the coronavirus-led shutdowns that imposed on May 10 will be reassessed after 10 days eign employees, the minister called for boosting the to announce their replacement plans within three forced many companies to either fire employees or of the start, around May 20. use of automation and technology, besides appoint- months of enacting the law and show the number of cut their salaries. A majority of those impacted are A large number of cooperative society employ- ing more Kuwaitis. jobs available for Kuwaitis. If no Kuwaitis apply for expatriates. It is estimated that if the closures con- ees have tested positive for coronavirus in the past MP Abdulkarim Al-Kandari welcomed the deci- a certain job, government agencies can appoint tinue for a few more months, hundreds of thousands few days. More than 30 co-ops have been affected sion and said he will submit a draft law calling on all expats on a temporary basis for one year only, of expats would lose their private sector jobs. as the ministry continues its testing drive. warn them of the new rules before they came into Masks a must force. Wearing a mask is currently mandatory in around 50 countries, although scientists are divided on their effectiveness. in Qatar on Authorities in Chad have made it an offence to be unmasked in public, on pain of 15 days in prison. pain of prison In Morocco similar rules can see violators jailed for three months and fined up to 1,300 dirhams ($130). DOHA: Qatar yesterday began enforcing the Qatari authorities have warned that gatherings dur- world’s toughest penalties of up to three years’ ing the fasting month of Ramadan may have imprisonment for failing to wear masks in public, as increased infections. it battles one of the world’s highest coronavirus Abdullatif Al-Khal, co-chair of Qatar’s National infection rates. More than 30,000 people have test- Pandemic Preparedness Committee, said Thursday ed positive for COVID-19 in the tiny Gulf country – that there was “a huge risk in gatherings of families” 1.1 percent of the 2.75 million population – although for Ramadan meals. “(They) led to a significant just 15 people have died. Only the micro-states of increase in the number of infections among San Marino and the Vatican had higher per capita Qataris,” he said. Neighboring Saudi Arabia will infection rates, according to the European Centre enforce a round-the-clock nationwide curfew dur- for Disease Prevention and Control. ing the five-day Eid al-Fitr holiday later this month Violators of Qatar’s new rules will face up to to fight the coronavirus. three years in jail and fines of as much as Mosques, along with schools, malls, and restau- $55,000. Drivers alone in their vehicles are exempt rants remain closed in Qatar to prevent the disease’s from the requirement, but several expats told AFP spread. But construction sites remain open as Qatar that police were stopping cars at checkpoints to Continued on Page 16 DOHA: In this photo taken on March 16, 2020, a man wearing a mask walks along the cornice. — AFP News in brief Coronavirus crisis punctures Khafji production halt Tunisia tourism rebound DUBAI: Kuwait and Saudi Arabia have agreed to TUNIS: As the novel coronavirus “We are waiting for the airspace to halt oil production from the joint Al-Khafji field pandemic wipes out a recovery from reopen,” he said. “But 2020 is a write- for one month, starting from June 1, Kuwait’s Al- attacks in 2015, Tunisia’s vital tourism off.” Rai newspaper reported on Saturday. There was sector is trying to find ways to avoid The North African country has no immediate comment from Kuwaiti officials. going under. “Normally, the season registered 45 deaths from the Saudi Arabia and Kuwait have agreed with other starts now. But there is nobody,” said COVID-19 illness, and for several members of the OPEC+ group of oil producers to Mohammed Saddam, who owns an days this week saw no new infections, cut output in a bid to reduce a glut in global sup- antiques shop in the famous blue and putting it among Mediterranean plies. Both Gulf states have also said they would white village of Sidi Bou Said, near countries faring relatively well in the make additional cuts beyond the agreed curbs. the capital Tunis. Usually its streets pandemic. But the crisis has led to a Last Monday, Oil Minister Khaled Al-Fadhel said are filled with tourists at this time of shortfall in tourism revenues of six bil- Kuwait will slash production by 80,000 barrels year, but now Saddam is only opening lion dinars (over $2 billion), the SIDI BOU SAID, Tunisia: This photo taken on April 4, 2020 shows an empty per day in June, on top of the cuts already agreed his store for an hour a day to air it out. Continued on Page 16 cafe in this village some 20 km northeast of Tunis. — AFP under a pact by the OPEC+ group of major oil producing countries. — Reuters Chinese envoy found dead Tiffs over mask wearing JERUSALEM: The Chinese ambassador to Israel, Du Wei, was found dead at his residence on the trouble US airlines too outskirts of Tel Aviv yesterday, police said. The WASHINGTON: The wearing of hotspot - to Charlotte Douglas envoy, who had arrived in Israel in mid-Feb, was masks to protect against the coron- International Airport in North found dead in his Herzliya home, spokesman Micky avirus has become such a sensitive Carolina. He had a middle seat, Rosenfeld told AFP, adding that police were inves- issue in the United States that airlines wedged between two other passen- tigating. Du’s wife and son were not with him in are struggling to impose the practice gers - only one of whom was wearing Israel. Du, 57, had previously served as ambassa- on defiant travelers in the enclosed a mask. dor to Ukraine, according to his biography on the environment of an airplane. Johannes As Eisele recounted it, “I asked him embassy’s website. The Haaretz daily said initial reports said staff had found Du dead in his bed Eisele, an AFP photographer, experi- if he didn’t have a mask. He said, ‘Yes, and that there were no signs of violence. It quoted enced the problem in person. He I have.’ And I asked him, ‘Can you a first aid service as saying the cause of death recently took his seat on an American please wear it?’” “He said he feels appeared to be a cardiac incident.