KUWAIT: Kuwait has begun taking serious steps to replace the existing kafeel (Kuwaiti sponsor) system by adopting executive measures, including a recent ministerial decree allowing expatriate workers who stay three years in Kuwait to transfer to new sponsors without having to take permission from their current ones.

Minister of Social Affairs and Labor Mohammad Al-Afasi yesterday stressed the significance of finding practical solutions to the problems of foreign workers at private firms and maids. He was speaking to reporters following a meeting with members of a permanent committee in charge of regulating the conditions of expatriate workers at private firms and domestics. "A fresh vision needs to be set out for such problems as a prelude to taking it to the Cabinet for further deliberations and then approval," the m
inister told the committee, while requesting it to find practical substitutes to the kafeel system.

Al-Afasi said the meeting discussed the conditions of foreign workers whose services were terminated after the completion of certain government projects. He added that this segment of expat workers, totaling 6,000, is facing arrest warrants and deportation orders. "The meeting also considered how to find fresh alternatives to the sponsor system in collaboration with the International Labor Organization (ILO) provided that they ensure the rights of both employers and employees," he reiterated.

The minister revealed that the ministry is preparing the organizational structure of the Public Authority of Manpower Affairs that was mandated by the new labor law which was recently passed by the National Assembly. He underlined the need to coordinate with the General Department of Immigration to ensure that private firms fully comply with regulations regarding expat workforce.

The meeting was attended by a number of senior officials, including ministry's undersecretary Mohammad Al-Kandari, ministry's Assistant Undersecretary for Labor Affairs Mansour Al-Mansour and Director of the General Department of Immigration at the Ministry of Interior Brigadier Kamel Al-Awadi.

Also yesterday, Afasi met with members of the Assembly's health, social and labor affairs committee to address several issues pertaining to the new labor law and proposed amendments to the existing cooperative societies law, in addition to regulations governing children nurseries. "The Ministry of Social Affairs and Labor is witnessing at this stage a legislative revolution that touches on a wide range of issues in various ministry sectors," the minister told journalists after concluding the meeting with t
he parliamentary committee.

He pointed out that deliberations with committee members included proposed amendments to the cooperative societies law which are aimed at ensuring the rights of shareholders. He added that the ministry will finalize these amendments and other changes on other laws in the coming week.

Once passed by the National Assembly, these laws will achieve a real transformation in ministry activities and in line with citizens' expectations," said Afasi, adding that the ministry will adopt stringent measures next week against certain officials who were involved in forging certificates granted by the Higher Council for the Disabled to persons with special needs. The minister said that the new law for the disabled, recently endorsed by the National Assembly, increases the number of people with disab
ilities from 1,500 to 33,000 which required a comprehensive review of all disability files. - Kuwait Times