soccer Page 15 Pages 14 & 16 THE FIRST ENGLISH LANGUAGE DAILY IN FREE KUWAIT ice hockey Established in 1977 / www.arabtimesonline.com FRIDAY-SATURDAY, MARCH 19-20, 2021 / SHABAAN 6-7, 1442 AH emergency number 112 NO. 17641 16 PAGES 150 FILS MPs submit barrage of queries to ministers ‘Need to revise law’ Opinion Kuwait reaffirms safety By Saeed Mahmoud Saleh Arab Times Staff Govt on brink of an abyss KUWAIT CITY, March 18: MP Farz Al-Daihani has submitted a proposal By Ahmed Al-Jarallah of coronavirus vaccines to the parliamentary Legislative and Editor-in-Chief, the Arab Times Legal Affairs Committee to include the bills on general amnesty to the THE government always loses the battle because it unfortunately agenda of the upcoming session to be doesn’t know how to gain popular consent. It does not exercise 1,504 new infections reported, 8 dead discussed and approved immediately its role fi rmly because of its fear of parliamentary accountability, after the deliberations on incoming which drives it to hesitation. Therefore, it regrettably reproduces letters. the method that its predecessors followed since the mid-1980s after KUWAIT CITY, March 18, (Agencies): The Kuwaiti Ministry of Health (MoH) reiter- He confi rmed that MPs Mubarak the crisis of “Souk Al-Manakh stock market crash” to this day. ated the safety and effectiveness of coronavirus vaccines approved for use in the country. Al-Arow, Salman Al-Azmi, Musaed Due to this reason, the executive authority always appears hostile The ministry affirmed also that there were unexpected side effects on those who received vaccines. Al-Ardi, Fayez Al-Jomhour, Saleh towards popular demands, indifferent to their concerns, and clings Zeiab Al-Mutairi and Chairman of to laws that are no longer suitable for the 21st century irrespective In a press statement, the ministry’s team tasked with monitoring side effects of COVID-19 vaccines stressed the World Health Organization (WHO) and the European Medicines Agency’s reports on the benefi t and safety of Oxford- the Legislative and Legal Affairs of whether it is related to encouraging investment and fi nance or Committee MP Khalid Ayed Al-An- even in the housing issue, the features of which are still the same AstraZeneca COVID-19 vaccine. The team pointed to contin- zi support his proposal. as they were in the 1950s, without taking any initiative to solve the Meanwhile, MP Marzouq Al- issue. ued follow-up of health condi- tions of people who obtained Khalifa forwarded queries to Minis- In this regard, it unfortunately did not learn from the experiences ter of Foreign Affairs Sheikh Ahmed of other countries, and this fi le is getting more and more complex. vaccination in the country, it added. Nasser Al-Muhammad on the loans A citizen in Kuwait has to wait 15-20 years to obtain his housing that Kuwait Fund for Arab Economic welfare, while in the UAE, Saudi Arabia, Bahrain, and other coun- Neither deaths nor blood tries, the issue was resolved with a modern form of organization clots related to virus vaccines Development (KFAED) granted to without the state incurring any sums that burden public funds. were reported in the country, it Arab and foreign countries. As for the issue of freedom and information, instead of devel- confi rmed. He requested for the list of coun- oping laws, the Twitter post of a Kuwaiti citizen costs him 10-20 The side effects, which were tries, amount of loan granted to years in prison, with some even facing 50 years in prison. The gov- reported, have no danger on each country, period of payment ernments did nothing to cleanse the image of Kuwait in this regard health of people who received and amount of interest. He wants to by abolishing laws that restrain freedom of opinion. This has led the vaccine, it said, indicating know the due date for every loan, the country to appear to the world in a way other than its true im- that these effects are probable loans which were paid and those age of being a habitat for freedom of opinion and expression, and a and temporary. which have not been paid yet. cultural message of enlightenment to the Arab world. The effects registered after MP Badr Nasser Al-Humaidi asked In addition to that, these governments have not worked towards vaccination are expected and Minister of Finance and Minister of correcting the relationship between them and the legislative author- will continue for a short time, State for Economic and Investment ity, which, in the eyes of the people, always appears to be the res- it noted. Affairs Khalifa Hamada about the cuer and savior. That is why the MPs intend to play a populist role There are probable reaction delayed enforcement of law num- with ease, realizing that the executive authority does not have the and response to immunity sys- ber 6/2008 on the transformation of initiative. This was evident in recent events when these contradic- tem when receiving the vac- Kuwait Airways Corporation (KAC) tory practices of the Cabinet were used to raise the popularity of cine, it said. into a shareholding company. MPs among Kuwaitis, and thus becoming heroes in the eyes of the The team emphasized the He wants to know why the subsidi- people. continuation of following up ary of KAC was attributed to many It is true that the rescue came from the political leadership safety of vaccines, in coordina- institutions for 11 years and none of through directives to withdraw the reports submitted by the Minis- tion and cooperation with the these institutions have taken any step try of Interior. This opened the gates of relief after the government specialized international bod- towards enforcing the abovemen- brought the matter to the brink of the abyss, and this led reassur- ies. tioned law. ance to prevail among Kuwaitis. Meanwhile, Kuwait re- Based on this fact, Kuwaitis are today looking towards a guard- ported 1,504 news coronavirus Decision ian to get them out of the tunnel that the executive authority took infections over past 24 hours, He asked about the loss resulting them into, because of its disarray, and to rid them of what they have bringing the total to 213,673. from the delayed enforcement of the found themselves in. This includes the case of loans, about which In remarks to KUNA, the law, reasons behind the issuance of they do not ask for anything more than rescheduling, reducing or health ministry’s spokesman a decision to transform KAC into a dropping the interest, or guaranteeing them and rescheduling them Dr Abdullah Al-Sanad said that shareholding company within a peri- for 20-30 years. It also includes dropping of the lawsuits, which eight people died due to the vi- rus during the last 24 hours to od ranging from fi ve to seven years, have reached about 70 thousand cases in a few years, and the travel why the seven years period has end- ban imposed on about 100,000 citizens over small sums. take the death toll to 1,194. The spokesman also noted ed without transforming KAC into a In this regard, why doesn’t the state follow the same path taken shareholding company, and expected by the other Gulf states, which dropped loans of their citizens and that up to 9,277 virus tests did not imprison them for defaulting for reasons beyond their con- were conducted during the last date of implementing law number trol? Why not open the gates of investment, restore the economic hours, affi rming that the total 6/2008. wheel and social openness in the country, after the shortsighted de- PCR tests reached 1,933,173. On the other hand, the Budgets and Burj Al Arab, a seven star luxury hotel is lit up in green for St. Patrick’s Day in Earlier today, the health min- Final Accounts Committee recently cisions and laws led to its transformation, and eliminate the use of Dubai, United Arab Emirates, March 17. (AP) the fear-club against the other, which increased people’s losses? istry confi rmed the recovery of discussed the budget of Kuwait Uni- Finally, we reiterate the fact that the state has been unable to 1,452 people from the disease, versity (KU) for fi scal 2021/2022 market itself to its people, while in other countries the authority adding that the total recover- and fi nal accounts for fi scals 2018/ shows itself in a civilized manner and serves as a refuge and a ha- ies in the country climbed to 2019 and 2019/ 2020. ven for people. This is what Kuwait should be, because continuing US House set to okay 198,273. Chairman of the committee MP to rely on a disoriented government will only bring about a worse The consumer cooperative Badr Al-Mullah disclosed the ac- undesirable situation. societies will continue to serve tual expenditure for fi scal 2018/2019 the citizens and residents from reached KD 566 million and KD 560 Email: [email protected] Dems immigration bills 5:00 pm until 10:00 pm every million for fi scal 2019 /2020. Follow me on: day during the curfew – the He said the expenditure for fi s- WASHINGTON, March 18, (AP): Dem- versions of which the House approved partial curfew is from 5:00 pm cal 2021/2022 is estimated at KD ocrats seem poised to claim victory in the in 2019. Seven Republicans voted for until 5:00 am – if the visitor 486 million, while attributing the House’s fi rst votes this year on immigra- the “Dreamers” bill and 34 backed the obtains permission (barcode) expenditure reduction to minimiz- [email protected] tion, but moving legislation on the divi- farm workers measure that year, but from the Ministry of Com- ing construction projects due to the sive issue all the way through Congress GOP support was expected to plummet merce and Industry.