KUWAIT: The present is the wrong time to privatize Kuwait Airways Corporation (KAC) due to continuing global financial instability and the current situation in the state-owned airline , according to an economic expert. Speaking at a seminar entitled, 'Kuwait Airways: Privatization and Violations,' held at the Al-Neif Diwan in Hadiya on Sunday evening, economist Hajjaj Bukhathour said that in the current global recession governments elsewhere in the world had been bailing out private companies and bringing them under state ownership, while in Kuwait, by contrast, the government was attempting to privatize a state-owned firm. Boukhathour, who is also the Secretary of the Kuwaiti Observatory for Participatory Democracy, continued, "The company needs restructuring and an overhaul before it can be offered for sale; nobody offers their house for sale when it needs maintenance - first you fix it, then you offer it for sale.

All the signs indicate that the privatization is a "corrupt" step, said Boukhathour. "Privatization in general is designed to be a tool for corruption, not reform," he asserted, adding that corrupt individuals are now targeting those who attempt to expose corruption.

Another speaker, Hamad Al-Merri, the head of the airline's workers' union, said that the company's assets had been fraudulently evaluated at between KD 115 million and KD 130 million, which he said was a completely unrealistic price for them.

Now they're saying the company's debts are KD 200 million and the government has to settle those debts before selling the company," he said. "I wonder how it's possible to pay KD 200 million in order to sell something for KD 130 million.

Al-Merri said that the lack of accountability within KAC had led to many staff members becoming complacent and comfortable with their own misconduct in the realization that nobody would point a finger at them.

If a report indicates that an incorrect decision has caused the company to lose a large amount of money, why are those responsible for that?" he asked. The union head stated that corrupt individuals always maintain a close relationship with Kuwait's decision makers, believing that this makes them untouchable.
Al-Merri said that the source of many of KAC's problems is the company's poor management.

The head of KAC's Sales and Marketing department holds a Geography degree," he said. "This man launched a route to one country without even conducting a thorough study beforehand, which has cost the company a KD 700,000 loss - and he didn't even receive a warning!

MP Jamaan Al-Harbish, meanwhile, said that some individuals from well-connected families in Kuwait are so well protected as to be virtually unstoppable. "The minister might be grilled or removed, but those people will stay in place because they're protected and untouchable," he asserted. Al-Harbish also alleged that a number of corrupt practices had sprung up within the company since the government first introduced the privatization legislation in 2008.

With the government announcing that it will give [KAC] employees the choice between being transferred to another public sector job and early, full-salary retirement together with a three-year salary lump sum, people in senior positions are now giving wage increases and promotions to those close to them and transferring them to jobs with additional allowances so that their remuneration will be multiplied many times over," he claimed.

The MP also asserted that changing KAC's name during the privatization process would lead to it losing a number of privileges worldwide "The debt of KD 1.2 billion owed to KAC by Iraqi airlines will be lost if the name is changed and KAC's offices abroad will need to resign their rental contracts for much larger amounts of money," the MP claimed. Al-Harbish concluded by stating that serious action must be taken over this issue to protect the rights of the state, while those responsible for misconduct must be held responsible for their actions. - Kuwait Times