This occurs in Kuwait because at election times, all kinds of Kuwaitis receive bribes and gifts from those with the right connections.

That is, quid-pro-quos by supporters of certain candidates may find insiders in the ministry to carry out such dastardly deeds in the thick of elections.

Another possibility is that a royal family member may own one of the companies involved in not paying laborers properly. Recently, upon the death of the Father Emir Sheikh Saad Abdullah Al-Sabah, a day of mourning was called. At least some of the companies owned by royal family members breached this law and continued production.

One example of these firms is AquaSan, a porcelain manufacturer operating in Mina Abdullah. AquaSan is owned by a man named Sabah. This particular company has breached various labor laws in recent years with great regularity & without the proper government ministries ever carrying out even one investigation.

For example, this company, Aqua San, forces laborers to give up pay upon renewing their contracts and also cuts housing allowances and overtime pay quite regularly .

In short, there is a lot of impunity carried out by companies and with some government acquiescence in the form of behaviors manifested at numerous government ministries in Kuwait. This has led annually to a constant state of breaches of employment agreements and breaches of Kuwaiti health and labor laws-not to mention laws related to supporting the Universal Declaration of Human Rights.

ATTACKING EX-PATS & LETTING KUWAITIS OFF SCOT-FREE

In, supposedly, the Gulf region's best democracy, Kuwait ministries have recently begun to create new laws targeting only expatriates.

I recently wrote of how two Syrians were deported from Kuwait for driving through red lights-while dozens of Kuwaitis do this and other illegal driving maneuvers with impunity each and every day.

Another new law targeting foreign laborers-only in Kuwait has to do with forced payments at the airport of electricity and water bills. "The legislation states that expatriates who have not cleared their bills will not be permitted to exit Kuwait either through Kuwait International Airport or border checkpoints."

Paying one's bills may sound reasonable enough but with a dysfunctional billing and metering system-not to mention an ill-functioning postal network-Kuwait makes it both hard to receive and to pay one's bills.

In an article on the topic, Ben Garcia of the KUWAIT TIMES, illustrates a typical expatriate's experience in living in Kuwait:

"Abu Hussein a Jordanian national said he has not paid his electricity and water bills since the last two years. The reason? No one from the ministry comes to his residence to take the meter readings. Hence he does not receive any bills to pay. The likes of Abu Hussein are now being targeted through the issuance of a new legislation. All expatriates will now be barred from leaving the country, on vacation or otherwise, without settling their electricity and water bills first."

Later, in the same article, Hussein added, "It's unfair. We've been residing in Kuwait for the last 35 years and we used to receive a bill every three months. And if we didn't pay the bill by the following month, they used to automatically disconnect the power supply. But now, we have not been receiving any bills for the last two years, and they are going to punish us for that. Why doesn't the ministry do its job according to a schedule just like us? How do you expect me to pay any bill without knowing the meter reading, without receiving a bill? The new system is completely absurd and unacceptable."

Most of the country's 2 million expatriates note that, from what they have witnessed over many years, it is mostly the Kuwaiti landlord and villa owner who doesn't pay their electric and water bills anyway.

 1  |  2  |  3