14 questions to be focus of FNC session today

Abu Dhabi: A record number of questions on issues ranging from offering jobs to the unemployed, late marriage and financial resources of the marriage Fund, to growing incidence of cancer and Down Syndrome will be put to ministers at today's session of the Federal National Council.

As the Council's summer recess is nearing, representatives will ask ministers 14 questions, some of them brought forward from previous sessions because ministers did not show up.

The questions include five to be put to Obaid Humaid Al Tayer, Minister of State for Financial Affairs, on initiatives to boost medium and small-sized industries, reducing bank loans, increasing salary of the military and setting a cap for interests on loans. Concerned over the growing number of unemployed citizens, Saeed Nasser Al Khateri, a member from Ras Al Khaimah, will question actions by the Federal Human Resource Authority, to create jobs for university graduates and secondary school completers.

High demand

Al Khateri demanded the government to create more jobs for unemployed Emiratis, citing the Economy Ministry's figures which put joblessness among Emiratis at 15 per cent.

He sought to know from Humaid Mohammad Al Qutami, Minister of Education and chairman of the Federal Human Resource Authority, about what the authority is doing to keep pace with the high demand for jobs. He asked how a country like the UAE with an economy creating hundreds of thousands of jobs and where citizens account for less than 15 per cent of the population, could have an unemployment problem.

In a letter he sent last month to the House, Al Qutami said 94 per cent of administrative jobs in ministries were held by Emiratis, while citizens account for 20 per cent of jobs among medical professionals and 65 per cent among educational professionals. "Ministries and federal departments offered jobs to 1,500 Emiratis last year and a similar number the year before," Al Qutami said.

But the representative insisted that the minister show up in person to discuss the issue in detail.

Genetic disorder

Dr Amal Al Qubaisi, First Deputy Speaker of the FNC, will raise the question of the high rate of Down Syndrome, a genetic disorder that causes lifelong damage to mental development, in the country.

Al Qubaisi said it is alarming that the incidence of Down Syndrome in the country is double of the rate across the world.

Hamad Ahmad Al Rahoumi, a representative from Dubai, will ask the Minister of Health about measures taken to reduce the incidence of cancer in the country. It is the third leading cause of death in the UAE following cardiovascular diseases and accidents.