Kuwait City: During a special session at Kuwait’s National Assembly (parliament), 61 of the 62 present members approved a 600 million Kuwaiti dinar budget to be distributed as a reward to COVID-19 frontline workers.
With that being said, the law passed with a number of restrictions most notably that the payment goes to workers who deserve it and have fulfilled their duties during the COVID-19 pandemic.
In addition, the Audit Bureau is tasked with preparing a periodic report every three months that will be submitted to parliament for review and the government is required to submit a report once all the rewards are done being distributed to ensure transparency.
During the session, the newly elected, Dr. Obaid Al Wasmi, who won by a landslide in last week’s by-election, took the constitutional oath in front of parliament.
11 MPs requested that a special session be held next Thursday, June 3, to discuss the law regarding the juridical branches right in reviewing cases where one’s nationality has been withdrawn.
Stance on Palestine
Given the recent attacks that took place against Palestinians in Gaza and the occupied territories, the parliament unanimously approved a proposal that calls on amending certain provisions listed in Law no 21 of 1964, otherwise known as the Unified Law for Boycotting the Zionist Entity.
In addition, the parliament unanimously approved a statement that read, “we affirm the strong condemnation against the attacks taken against our Palestinian brothers and the approval of amendments to to fill the gaps in the law against the Zionist entity, which is a new message for the stability of Kuwait’s position on the issue.”
The parliament also approved a law, in principle, to reject normalizing relations with Israel.
Kuwait’s Minister of Foreign Affairs, Dr. Ahmed Al Sabah, said in the session, “the heinous crimes taken by the Israeli occupation forces measure up to war crimes and crimes against humanity.”
