Manama: A Kuwaiti politician has called for the resignation of the communications minister for allegedly giving false information about the status of a local port to the parliament.
MP Waleed Al Tabtabai said that when he checked the information provided by Mohammad Al Baseeri about the Doha Port in Kuwait, he was shocked to discover "alarming discrepancies."
"For instance, the minister said that the security company at the airport was fully committed to employing Kuwaiti or Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) citizens in the security and safety sections and that they would have cars with flashers," Al Tabatabi said.
"However, when I went there, I saw that most of the security staff were stateless residents [bidoon] and did not wear proper uniforms. They did not have vehicles with flashers, either," he was quoted by Al Aan news portal as saying.
The discrepancy means that the minister, or whoever provided him with the wrong information, should hand in his resignation, he said.
"There is grave danger in not having Kuwaiti employees, even if they are nationals of the GCC countries, issue the necessary permits, especially that the Doha Port is a very important port since it receives goods and ship consignments from Iran," the politician said.
"Such laxity is terrible and giving false information to the parliament to hide or disguise facts is very dangerous. We are not sure whether what is happening at the port is predetermined or resulting from blatant negligence.”
Al Tabtabai's call had mixed reactions in Kuwait where he is known to be controversial.
Many thanked him however for his readiness to defend Kuwait and to alert the government and the parliament about such problems.
However, many Kuwaitis say that he has been overstepping his responsibilities and that he should devote his efforts to much more significant matters.
