The story so far: The Kuwait National Assembly (NA) is discussing several proposals to reduce the share of foreigners in the country’s population, which is now pegged at 70%. There are many proposals under consideration, and one is to put caps on the number of emigrants in the country. In this, the plan is that Indians should not exceed 15% of Kuwaiti citizens, while Egyptians, Bangladeshis and Filipinos among others must not each exceed 10% of Kuwaitis.
The head of the Parliamentary Human Resources Development Committee, MP Khalil Al-Saleh, is pushing for a drastic reduction in the number of expatriates. Assembly Speaker Marzouq Al-Ghanim and the government believe that such drastic measures are impossible, though everyone appears to agree in principle that the proportion of foreigners in the population must be reduced. The Speaker has said this week that he and other MPs would submit a new draft law aimed at binding the government to gradually reduce the number of expats, according to Kuwait Times. Kuwait’s Deputy Prime Minister and Minister Of Interior and State For Cabinet Affairs Anas Al-Saleh had also promised last week to send a draft law to the NA within two weeks.
Where is the proposal headed?
Kuwait’s Prime Minister Sheikh Sabah Al-Khaled Al-Hamad Al-Sabah had said, “the ideal population structure is to have 70 per cent Kuwaitis and 30 per cent non-Kuwaitis”. Currently, it is the other way around. Such a turnaround will require a drastic and impossible reduction in the country’s total population and the concerns about the proposal are overhyped, said Reaven D’Souza, Managing Editor, The Times Kuwait. “It is difficult to foresee any law on this being made during the current term of the NA. If and when i