KUWAIT: Three Islamist MPs yesterday called on the government to apply stricter actions on expatriates who fail to pay rent , particularly after courts have issue a final verdict against them. In an official proposal submitted to the Assembly yesterday, MPs Ali Al-Omair, Mohammad Al-Mutair and Khaled Al-Sultan urged the interior ministry and other concerned ministries to suspend all transactions for such expatriates like renewal of residence, driving licence or vehicle registration until they have paid thei
r rent in full.

The MPs said that in certain cases, expatriate tenants refuse to pay the rent for any specific reason and landlords normally resort to courts for justice. They added that due to lengthy court procedures, such cases sometimes take a very long time for landlords to win a final court ruling ordering tenants to pay the due rent in full. But the problem is that applying the verdict also takes a long time because of bureaucracy and as a result, the lengthy delays hurt the interests of landlords, said the lawmake
rs, adding that authorities should apply stricter measures to force such tenants to pay up.

This can be achieved through barring such expatriates from renewing residence permits for them and their dependents, and renewing driving licence and vehicle registration, pointing out that without such measures, tenants can ignore payment for a very long time.

In another development, five MPs submitted a draft law calling on the government to establish an Islamic bank with the duty to offer interest-free loans to needy Kuwaiti citizens and unemployed women. MPs Jamaan Al-Harbash, Faisal Al-Mislem, Waleed Al-Tabtabaei and Falah Al-Sawwagh, all members of the Development and Reform Bloc, said the bank's main purpose would be to grant loans not exceeding KD 2,000 to citizens with limited income, housewives and citizens who have small projects. The proposal states that the loans should be granted towards a productive project without any guarantees and at easy terms.

In a related matter, MPs Sultan, Mutair and Shuaib Al-Muwaizri proposed setting up a public shareholding company to establish and manage communications towers for telecom and Internet companies in the country. They proposed that 30 percent of the shares be given to the three telecom firms, 20 percent to Internet companies, 20 percent to be held by the state and 30 percent to be offered to the public. The financial and economic affairs committee meanwhile approved a draft law for pricing commodities and the protection of consumers. The head of the committee said the bill will be of a great help to consumers.