KUWAIT: A Kuwaiti NGO announced it has prepared the needed legislation to form a 'Public Authority for Integrity,' (PAI) an organization committed to implementing anti-corruption policies. The announcement was made by the chairman of the Kuwait Transparency Society (KTS) during a seminar held on their premises in Yarmook Monday evening. "The formation of the PAI came as a result of a fusion of four different anti-corruption legislations," said Salah Al-Ghazali, chairman of KTS. "The anti-corruption law, the fiscal liability law, the conflict of interest law and the informant protection law," he added.

The KTS chairman said that the draft was made in cooperation with a number of Kuwaiti NGOs and members of the legislative committee in the National Assembly. "The head of the committee, Hussain Al-Huraiti, asked to combine the four drafts into a single legislation and I think that is the right thing to do. Those four laws complete each other and it will not be correct to pass each one of them separately," he explained.

Al-Ghazali explained that in addition to combining the four legislations into a single draft, the NGOs also made some enhancements, such as changing the name from the Anti-corruption Authority to the Public Authority for Integrity. "We wanted to reflect a positive meaning," said Al-Ghazali.

Other amendments included modifying the formation of the board of trustees in order to guarantee the least amount of government intervention in the duties of the authority as possible. "Now we have done our part," said Al-Ghazali, "and it's up to the MPs to fulfill their duty and pass this legislation." Al-Ghazali added that MPs took the right initiative when they suggested both the anti-corruption and fiscal liability laws. He praised the government for adopting the anti-corruption treaty three years befo
re the parliament ratified it back in 2006.

Faisal Al-Fahad, a member of KTS, said that Kuwait needs to take some urgent steps in the implementation of its international obligations. "Recently, a new review mechanism was adopted and steps were taken by the Kuwaiti government to meet the requirements of the anti-corruption treaty. If the draft is chosen during the draw that will take place next June, it will be reviewed by teams from two countries," he said.

Al-Fahad explained that it is important for Kuwait to fulfill its obligations in order to avoid having its legislation scrutinized by international organizations. He noted that it is extremely important to adopt anti-corruption policies in order to implement HH the Amir Sheikh Sabah Al-Ahmad's vision to transform Kuwait into a financial and trading center.

Kuwait is in the second to last place among Arab countries on the investment attractiveness index, said Al-Fahad. "If we want to be attractive to foreign investors, we need to take a firm stand against corruption," he concluded. - Kuwait Times