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NEw SARS-likE viRUS EMERGES iN MidEASt - Kuwait Times

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By Nawara Fattahova<br />

KUWAIT: Besides the regular problems in<br />

business with customers and products, small<br />

businesses owners are facing obstacles with<br />

the bureaucracy in Ministries and state<br />

authorities. They also complain about different<br />

problems that delay their work and<br />

demand more resources.<br />

One of the most annoying and difficult<br />

obstacles are the limited number of employees<br />

for work, as set by the Ministry of Social<br />

Affairs and Labor. “I wonder how the Ministry<br />

issued such a regulation? They definitely have<br />

no idea about the nature of our work and<br />

needs. They only allowed me to have five<br />

workers and I need at least seven to finish my<br />

work on time, especially after my business has<br />

grown and I receive more cars daily,” Salah, a<br />

29-year old partner of a car wash station in<br />

Shuweikh, told the <strong>Kuwait</strong> times.<br />

The Ministry has also set other conditions<br />

for employing staff. “To limit expats coming<br />

to <strong>Kuwait</strong>, the Ministry is forcing us to hire<br />

those employees already working in the local<br />

market, unless they are university graduates.<br />

DRIVE USB 3.0<br />

USB 2.0<br />

COMPATIBLE<br />

NO POWER<br />

Now, all the workers know this information so<br />

they have demanded increases in their<br />

salaries. So, if before they were receiving KD<br />

80, they are now getting 120, which became<br />

the standard in our business. And if I need to<br />

bring in other workers, I have to attract them<br />

with even higher salaries, which becomes<br />

expensive for my business. Besides, there is<br />

no office in <strong>Kuwait</strong> to search in providing<br />

workers for me,” he pointed out.<br />

“With respect to all nationalities, you know<br />

that the qualification and level of the Bengali<br />

or Indian worker is not on the level of the<br />

Filipino. And for KD 150 I can bring a professional<br />

technician from the Philippines, which<br />

most suits my needs and business, as I’m providing<br />

a high standard of services,” explained<br />

Salah. According to Salah, there is no equity in<br />

applying rules. “The small businesses owners<br />

are oppressed, since they don’t have wasta.<br />

The law is not applied to the big companies,<br />

who can bring any number of employees they<br />

need. Also, the number of employees was set<br />

randomly by the Ministry. For instance, the<br />

car wash on my right side has 10 employees<br />

while the one on my left side has a limit of<br />

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2 LOCAL<br />

five, although we all are in the same business<br />

field,” he added.<br />

“There are even many more problems with<br />

other authorities and we are facing bureaucracy<br />

in paper work at the municipality, the<br />

Ministry of Commerce, the Public Authority<br />

for Industry, Civil Information and many other<br />

offices. If I could go back, I would not choose<br />

to operate this business,” concluded Salah.<br />

Mohammed Al-Naki is a <strong>Kuwait</strong>i businessman<br />

who is also suffering from the problems<br />

of hiring manpower. He decided to find a way<br />

to benefit from solar and wind energy as a<br />

hobby. He fixed wind energy fans at his house<br />

in Salwa, and this attracted people who are<br />

passing from the Mesila bridge on Fahaheel<br />

Road. The shortage of manpower is the<br />

biggest obstacle facing Al-Naqi’s business.<br />

“I suffer from the public bureaucracy and<br />

some unfair rules. I understand that the government<br />

has issued strict rules for importing<br />

manpower, as there are people trading with<br />

laborers and human trafficking. On the other<br />

hand it is unjustified as I need to bring in<br />

technicians from outside and they don’t allow<br />

me to do so,” he added.<br />

TUESDAY, SEPTEMBER 25, 2012<br />

Small businesses face host of problems<br />

Bureaucracy tops the list<br />

Man held for armed robbery attempt<br />

KUWAIT: The <strong>Kuwait</strong>i drug trader<br />

pictured after his arrest.<br />

By Hanan Al Saadoun<br />

KUWAIT: The operations department and<br />

patrolling officers at Ahmadi governorate set up<br />

check points and closed areas in the governorate as<br />

they attempted to apprehend a suspect involved in<br />

a failed armed robbery.<br />

Governorate security said that suspect was<br />

arrested after he tried to flee from a checkpoint.<br />

Officials further said the suspect has been previously<br />

arrested for stealing, and after searching his car<br />

police found a gun with six bullets. Other items<br />

found by police included a gun bag with two bullets<br />

inside it, two screwdrivers used for breaking<br />

into and stealing cars, three gold rings, 11 mobiles,<br />

clothes, perfumes, various electronic equipment, as<br />

well as several knives. The witness who reported<br />

the theft was later able to identify the suspect, who<br />

was sent to concerned authorities along with the<br />

materials found with him. Ahmadi security officials<br />

stressed that their campaign shall continue until<br />

they have arrested all outlaws.<br />

Drug trader<br />

Drugs enforcement officers arrested a <strong>Kuwait</strong>i<br />

man on charges of having 1.250 kilograms of<br />

hashish, along with other drugs. Earlier information<br />

was received about the suspect’s selling drugs as<br />

KUWAIT: The items confiscated from the armed<br />

robber yesterday.<br />

well as using them, and based on this information,<br />

permission was received to arrest the suspect in his<br />

apartment. Officials said they found hashish in different<br />

sizes and some pills, as well as a small quantity<br />

of “Shabu” drugs and paraphernalia for using<br />

drugs. The <strong>Kuwait</strong>i man confessed to possessing<br />

the drugs for his own use and for selling. He was<br />

sent, along with the confiscated drugs, to the concerned<br />

authorities.<br />

By Ben Garcia<br />

KUWAIT: A cleaning company’s<br />

employee, who was working at a<br />

hospital and had not been properly<br />

vaccinated by her employer, was<br />

terminated after the company’s<br />

malpractice was revealed to the<br />

Ministry of Health.<br />

The cleaning company, which<br />

has been blacklisted as an employer<br />

by the Philippine government,<br />

provides workers to hospitals, and<br />

fired Filipina Lizel Masucol Bores,<br />

who accidentally pricked her finger<br />

with a used needle while performing<br />

her duties at a private hospital<br />

in <strong>Kuwait</strong>. Following the incident,<br />

Lizel was forced to leave <strong>Kuwait</strong> on<br />

Friday evening after what she<br />

termed as an “illegal termination,”<br />

and expressing her apprehension<br />

for her personal health. The company,<br />

which had initially given an<br />

appointment to this reporter, later<br />

refused to give a statement at their<br />

headquarters in Subhan yesterday.<br />

In a written response submitted<br />

to the Embassy of the Philippines,<br />

the company said that the employee<br />

had been dismissed for violating<br />

company rules.<br />

However, before her departure,<br />

Lizel visited the Philippine Embassy<br />

and signed an affidavit stating her<br />

grievances against her employer<br />

and the circumstances surrounding<br />

her wrongful termination.<br />

Workers and cleaners operating<br />

in hospitals are required by the<br />

Ministry of Health to be vaccinated<br />

against any form of disease, as they<br />

are dealing with sick patients every<br />

day. Doctors, nurses, administrative<br />

staff and other workers, including<br />

porters and cleaners are also<br />

required to be completely vaccinated<br />

for fighting Hepatitis, TB,<br />

and HIV. They are also given several<br />

shots of anti-flu vaccines,<br />

sources from the Ministry of Health<br />

told <strong>Kuwait</strong> <strong>Times</strong>.<br />

“I told the doctor at the Mubarak<br />

Hospital that I had only been vaccinated<br />

with two Hepatitis shots. The<br />

doctor then told me that I should<br />

have been given a complete set of<br />

vaccinations, which are mandatory<br />

for hospital workers,” Lizel told The<br />

<strong>Kuwait</strong> <strong>Times</strong>. This, she says, was<br />

the primary reason for her termina-<br />

KUWAIT: A number of high school teachers staged a sit in outside the Ministry of<br />

Education’s building yesterday, in protest against a decision to separate teachers<br />

from their children in the same school. The teachers complained that the<br />

decision affected them and their children negatively, and also questioned their<br />

integrity. Assistant Undersecretary for Public Education Mohammad Al-Kandari<br />

released a statement reasserting that the decision is final.<br />

— Photo by Fouad Al-Shaik<br />

INFO, planning secretariat<br />

general join WEF sponsors<br />

KUWAIT: The Ministry of<br />

Information and the Supreme<br />

Planning Councilís Secretariat<br />

General have joined the sponsors<br />

of the GCC Women Economic<br />

Forum (WEF), which will be held<br />

today and is entitled, ‘GCC Women<br />

and Investment Opportunities.’<br />

The event has been organized<br />

under the aegis of Sheikhah Ayeda<br />

Salem Al-Ali Al-Sabah.<br />

The General Manager of the<br />

Leaders Group and the Head of<br />

the Organizing Committee,<br />

Nabila Al-Anjeri thanked the<br />

Minister of Information Sheikh Abdullah<br />

Mohammed Abdullah Al-<br />

Mubarak Al-Sabah, his Undersecretary<br />

Sheikh Salman Sabah Al-Salem Al-Humoud<br />

and the Supreme Planning Council represented<br />

by Minister of State for Planning<br />

and Development Dr. Rola Dashti. ‘Those<br />

two sponsors are a symbol of the government’s<br />

support for the forum, which will<br />

establish <strong>Kuwait</strong>’s reputation as a leading<br />

GCC country in PR, women rights and as<br />

far as GCC’s investment and economic<br />

activities are concerned,’ she said. Al-Anjeri<br />

also thanked the other sponsors that<br />

included the INTREPRENEUR magazine,<br />

GOOD HEALTH magazine, published by<br />

Sheikh Mohammed<br />

Filipina worker<br />

wrongfully terminated<br />

tion. “My employer immediately terminated<br />

my contract. I will leave<br />

<strong>Kuwait</strong> with a heavy heart because I<br />

still haven’t repaid the loan I took for<br />

paying the placement fee to a<br />

recruitment company in Philippines,”<br />

she said, before boarding the plane<br />

to the Philippines on Friday.<br />

Another employee working in<br />

the same company confirmed to<br />

this reporter that all his co-workers<br />

including himself were yet to be<br />

fully vaccinated.<br />

Lizel arrived in <strong>Kuwait</strong> on<br />

November 3, 2011. She paid KD350<br />

as a placement fee that enabled<br />

her to get a job in <strong>Kuwait</strong>. She hasn’t<br />

repaid the loan yet. “I got<br />

pricked on August 23. I went to the<br />

hospital on August 26. Hepatitis<br />

and HIV tests will be conducted<br />

after three months, which will be<br />

on November 26, since the incubation<br />

period for these diseases is up<br />

to three months,” Lizel stated. She<br />

argued that the company had fired<br />

her to avoid taking any responsibility<br />

for the incident. She said, “They<br />

terminated my contract immediately.”<br />

However, Lizel’s reunion with<br />

her family back home only after 10<br />

months will not be a happy affair. “I<br />

don’t want to go home now,<br />

because I need to repay the loan<br />

first. Besides, what if I actually contracted<br />

a disease from the used<br />

needle? I was scheduled to be back<br />

at the hospital for Hepatitis and<br />

HIV testing, but how can I undergo<br />

those checks when they have<br />

already terminated my contract,”<br />

Lizel told the <strong>Kuwait</strong> <strong>Times</strong>. Besides<br />

illegal dismissal from work, Lizel<br />

cited other instances of the company<br />

violating its contracts. “We were<br />

made to work 16 hours a day without<br />

payment of overtime and our<br />

accommodation was really poor.<br />

We had signed contracts to work<br />

for KD120 a month but we were<br />

actually only paid KD80. We are<br />

also asked by our supervisors to<br />

work 16 hours, which amounts to<br />

an additional eight hours, which<br />

remain unpaid; sometimes we<br />

received only KD2.6 as fee for the<br />

extra eight-hour duty,” she said.<br />

The Philippine Labor Attache in<br />

<strong>Kuwait</strong> David Des Dicang, confirmed<br />

Lizel’s complaints and<br />

Nabila Al-Anjeri<br />

Sheikhah Entisar Salem Al-Ali Al-Sabah, the<br />

UNIDO, CBK, the <strong>Kuwait</strong> Fund for Arab<br />

Economic Development, the <strong>Kuwait</strong><br />

Financial Center, the Gatehouse Bank, KPC,<br />

KSPDC and KAC.<br />

Various GCC and foreign delegations<br />

participating in the forum have already<br />

started arriving for the inauguration slated<br />

for 9:00 a.m. this morning at the Al-<br />

Thuraya Hall in <strong>Kuwait</strong>’s J.W. Marriott<br />

Hotel.<br />

Al-Anjeri also thanked all GCC and<br />

<strong>Kuwait</strong>i media sponsors for the forum,<br />

including the Al-Watan, the Al-Qabas, the<br />

Annahar and the Al-Anbaa newspapers.<br />

promised to assist her further from<br />

<strong>Kuwait</strong>. “We already wrote a letter<br />

to her company and have informed<br />

them about Lizel’s complaints.<br />

According to her she was illegally<br />

terminated because she reported<br />

the vaccination matter to the<br />

Ministry of Health.<br />

The company responded and<br />

informed us that Lizel was terminated<br />

because of her many<br />

employment violations, which they<br />

have included in the response.<br />

Lizel has denied these violations,”<br />

Dicang said. He added that the<br />

company had already been suspended<br />

since January 1, 2012. “We<br />

at POLO have written a letter to the<br />

POEA, asking them to investigate<br />

the company and the recruitment<br />

agency, because we have received<br />

repeated complaints from workers.<br />

We receive complaints from<br />

Filipinos employed with this company<br />

almost every month,” he said.<br />

They were already suspended from<br />

our list of legitimate companies<br />

and they cannot be allowed to<br />

employ Filipino workers at all. The<br />

company owner had told us that<br />

they need Filipino workers and that<br />

they could lose their contracts if<br />

they were unable to provide additional<br />

workers.<br />

We told them, the company<br />

should only follow what is stated in<br />

the contracts. We’ve got many<br />

complaints from the workers, who<br />

also pointed out that many of the<br />

provisions in the new contacts are<br />

not implemented.” Dicang said,<br />

elaborating that, for example, the<br />

monthly salary should be above KD<br />

120, but the workers were only getting<br />

paid KD80. They should work<br />

ideally be working only eight<br />

hours, but were made to work for<br />

16 hours without overtime pay,” he<br />

said. “The company has refuted<br />

these complaints,” he said and<br />

questioned their stance by saying,<br />

“If these complaints are untrue,<br />

why are so many people complaining?<br />

The recruitment agency from<br />

the Philippines has also lost our<br />

confidence and if they violate rules<br />

again, they will risk suspension too.<br />

Also, if they have charged more<br />

money than required, we will ask<br />

them to refund that money,”<br />

Dicang noted.

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