Da sag' ich mal jetzt nichts zu ...

1,258 traffic violators deported in a month - 1005 vehicles taken to scrap yard: Official

... heute mal ein Auszug aus der "Kuwait Times" Tagespresse. Wer mit dem Englischen Probleme hat - ich hab' einen Translation Button unten rechts auf meinem Blog.  :o)

KUWAIT: Kuwait deported more than 1,200 foreigners since the government launched crackdowns against serious traffic violations a month ago, a local newspaper reported yesterday quoting a senior Interior Ministry official.
In the meantime, Undersecretary Assistant for Traffic Affairs Major General Abdulfattah Al-Ali insisted that ‘administrative deportation’ penalties were only handed out to expatriates whose records showed repeated ‘grave’ traffic violations. This was as per the directions issued by First Deputy Prime Minister and Interior Minister Sheikh Ahmad Al-Hmoud Al-Sabah.

In a detailed statement to Al-Anba newspaper published yesterday, Maj Gen Al-Ali said that 1,258 expatriates were deported in the four weeks since the General Traffic Department launched its operations. Maj Gen Al-Ali told the same newspaper late last month that more than 200 people were deported in the first two to three days of the campaign.

“[Minister Al-Sabah] gave instructions under which a decision to deport an expatriate driver was not made unless the record showed that he has committed similar multiple violations as the one he was arrested for,” Maj Gen Al-Ali said, further explaining that all deportation decisions were taken in case of drivers “with up to four repeated violations.”

Mmmhhh...wenn ich sehe, WER da immer wie Geisteskranke auf der Autobahn rasen, drängeln und Unfälle verursacht - dürfte es ja bald keine Einheimischen mehr hier geben.

The violations which the traffic department classified as ‘grave’ included driving without a license, jumping the red traffic light, carrying passengers illegally and breaking the speed limit by 40 kilometers per hour. Maj Gen Al-Ali further revealed that among the thousands of vehicles impounded during the ongoing crackdowns, 1005 were taken to the scrap to be destroyed.

“These vehicles were of 1985 model or earlier, and failed the validity tests, thus becoming unfit for driving in Kuwait,” the senior official said, adding that such cars are usually used for reckless driving, drifting and other activities that involve performing dangerous stunts.

Meanwhile, Maj Gen Al-Ali revealed that several forged driver’s licenses were discovered during the campaigns, and added that legal action will be taken against those having such licenses “and those who issued them.” In this regard, he urged anyone who obtained a driver’s license illegally to either “destroy it” or “hand it over to the General Traffic Department in which case he or she will be reconsidered as a witness instead of partner in the crime.”

According to a report published last month, there are at least 1.6 million registered vehicles in Kuwait; a country in which foreigners are required to meet certain conditions to obtain a driver’s license which include a university degree, a minimum of KD400 monthly pay and being a resident in Kuwait for at least two years. Kuwait is home to around 2.6 million expatriates who make up nearly two thirds of the state’s total population of 3.8 million, according to official statistics.

UNGLAUBLICH! Dann dürfte ich ja kein Auto fahren! Habe ja keinen Universitätsabschluss!

In the meantime, Maj Gen Al-Ali refuted allegations speculating that the recent crackdowns were targeting expatriates, indicating that appropriate legal procedures were taken against hundreds of Kuwaitis during the campaigns. These speculations were mostly based on the government’s announced plans to tackle the country’s demographic imbalance, a claim that has been refuted by state officials. Last March, Minister of Social Affairs and Labor Thekra Al-Rashidi announced a plan to deport 100,000 foreigners annually as part of the Gulf state’s efforts to restore the demographic balance.

WER soll denn dann die ganze Arbeit hier machen??? Kuwaitis gehören nicht gerade zur arbeitswilligen Bevölkerung in ihrem Land! Ich gebe denen eine Woche und dann kommt das Land in Müll um!

Details of the plan, by which the government looks to deport a million foreigners in ten years, are yet to be revealed, but Al-Rashidi had later hinted that individuals to be targeted were chiefly going to be ‘marginal labor forces’ or workers who usually accept menial labor and often live without valid visas. This plan, along with the traffic department’s mass deportations, have garnered wide criticism from unionists and right groups in Kuwait and abroad who called upon the government to instead cancel the sponsorship system as being the ‘best solution’ to address demographic imbalance.

Last month, the parliament passed a draft law to establish the Labor Public Authority, a state body to be tasked with handling foreigners’ employment duties and providing the legal framework to eventually replace the sponsorship system. Under this law, the authority will directly supervise the labor force in the private and oil sectors, including the process of visa issuance and transfer.

A report published by Al-Qabas yesterday listed details of the authority’s establishment law, which specified that “the authority alone can recruit expatriate labor forces in the private and oil sector as per the employer’s request.” The sponsorship or ‘kafala’ system is said to contain loopholes often exploited by visa traffickers to release work permits in the name of fake companies or nonexistent job openings and then sell these to unskilled labor forces looking for a chance to work in the oil-rich Gulf region. – Al-Anba & Al-Qabas

Wer auch immer das liest - was denkt ihr darüber???

 

Noch ein kleines "Extra"

Photo by Yasser Al-Zayyat

Morning nightmare: (DAILY!!!)

A traffic jam in Salmiya during school hours as parents stop along the road to drop their kids.

 

In diesem Sinne Salam wa sa’aadah