Category: News

The Kuwait Society for Human Rights issued a statement a couple of days ago on the recent decision not to renew work permits for people over 60 years old. The statement was done with Google Translate and not edited so a lot of it doesn’t make sense, but the gist of it is there. One of their main arguments is that some people have lived all their lives in Kuwait with only a passport connecting them to a different place and so it would be inhumane to force them out especially since a lot come from countries that are unstable.

They also share their recommendations on what needs to be done including the need to abolish the kafala system which I’m hearing a lot of support for. I’m not sure how influential the society is in Kuwait maybe someone can let me know in the comments, but I feel like they lost an opportunity here to get support from international media outlets by not editing their Google Translated statement. Maybe someone could volunteer to edit it and send them an updated version.

If you can read Arabic then I’d recommend you check out their Arabic release here, if you don’t read Arabic then here is a link to their English statement.

I didn’t but a lot of people are tweeting that they felt an earthquake a while ago. Turns out a 5.9 magnitude earthquake struck South West Iran which is why it was felt over here.

Last year I posted about how Traffic Department’s instagram account @traffic_kw was very active and constantly posting videos of car chases and before and after videos of cars that had violated laws and then after they were caught. Over the weekend the Traffic Department posted a video of a tragic incident that took place last Sunday when one of their officers was killed by a reckless driver.

The video is in Arabic but with English subtitles and you can watch it above. It’s pretty sad and makes you aware that the roads aren’t just unsafe for us, but also the cops. A week earlier another police officer was lucky to escape injury when a speeding car hit his parked car. The video of that incident along with the officer recounting his experience can be seen below. We really need to try and figure out how to make our roads safer because it’s not gonna get better by itself.

According to @kuwaitnews, Kuwait has started vaccinating elderly expats as well as expats with chronic health issues. I’ve also had people get in touch with me letting me know that their parents or grandparents have started getting their appointments. This is really great news to end the week. Thank you to everyone that supported this request and helped make this happen!

Update: Comments locked up again since we can’t seem to have a normal discussion without any racism.

The Kuwait coastguard removed a dead whale this past weekend which was found near the Jaber Causeway bridge. This isn’t the first time that this has happened but it has to be right up there with some of the biggest ones so far.

This is pretty random but according to the latest InterNations Expat City Ranking 2020, Salmiya was voted the worst out of 66 cities analyzed and described as “a city of unhappy, overworked, and homesick expats”. I mean we do have major issues in Salmiya but no way is it the worst city in the world for expats. I’ve been to Khaitan before, and I’m in Hawalli regularly, and as bad as both those places are I wouldn’t even consider them the worst in the world either.

Welcome to Salmiya, the Kuwait city so unloved by its expat population

Expats in Salmiya say they are unhappy with the local transportation (61st), with their health and the environment (66th), as well as with climate and leisure (66th).

Nearly three in five said they dislike the local leisure options (vs 15 percent worldwide). In the Getting Settled Index (66th), expats do not feel at home and they describe the local population as unfriendly (48 percent vs 17 percent globally), and they are also unhappy with their social life (56 percent vs 24 percent globally). Source

But Salmiya does have issues, a lot of them, which is why over the past 15 years I’ve been half-jokingly asking to be made the mayor of the city. I’d be to Salmiya what Leslie Knope is to Pawnee! It’s hard to imagine anyone is more passionate about the place than I am.

Make me the mayor and I’ll initiate a mass project making Salmiya more pedestrian and bicycle/scooters-friendly by taking back the sidewalk from all the illegal construction, I’d create bike paths that run across the city and turn sandlots into proper parking lots to reduce the cars on the streets. I’d replace all the bins with ones that have lids and I’ll personally lead on a massive beautification project. I’ll also protect old and landmark buildings from demolition and crackdown on all the buildings that have illegally converted their basement to warehouses depriving the building residents of parking. So go out and vote for me in the next election if you want a better Salmiya!

A couple of days ago the MOI announced a ban on riding electric scooters on roads. That makes total sense if it wasn’t for the fact that the reason people are riding their electric scooters on roads, is for the same reason you see people walking or riding bicycles on roads, we don’t have sidewalks.

I live in Salmiya where I’ve noticed a lot of people have started using scooters to commute around. I’m 100% sure they don’t want to be riding their scooters on the roads but are forced to due to the lack of sidewalks. Driving around any area of residential Salmiya and you’ll also notice people walking on the sides of the roads as well because there are no sidewalks. And this doesn’t just apply to Salmiya, if you head to other densely populated areas like Jabriya, Salwa, Hawalli, etc. you’ll also see the exact same situation there.

A lot of these people don’t earn a lot of money and with the pandemic right now most would prefer not to use cabs or busses. Add to the fact these same people who are being banned from using scooters to commute can’t even get driving licenses because of the laws in place that prevent them. Scooters are a great alternative for public transportation and it’s really unfair that due to poor urban planning, these low-income workers are now not allowed to use them to commute. It’s as if we keep looking for ways to make life even harder for them here.

Kuwait’s Emir, Sheikh Sabah al-Ahmed al-Sabah, has died at the age of 91, state media report. He was expected to be succeeded by his 83-year-old half-brother and crown prince, Sheikh Nawaf al-Ahmed. In July, Sheikh Sabah was flown to the United States for medical treatment following surgery for an unspecified condition in Kuwait. Source

I was looking for a photo of the Emir, a specific one where he’s hold a bottle of Coke when I came across the photo above and loved it. It was taken back in 1963 and this is the caption that was attached to it:

Kuwait became the 111th Member State of the United Nations when the Fourth Special Session of the General Assembly adopted by acclamation a 17-power draft resolution to that effect. Seen here as he addressed the meeting is Kuwait’s Foreign Minister, H.H. Sheikh Sabah Al-Ahmed Al-Sabah, Amir of the State of Kuwait, Foreign Minister at that time, who thanked the Assembly for admitting the State of Kuwait to the United Nations. – 14 May 1963 (Photo Courtesy of UN Photo) Source

May he rest in peace.

This fire took place late last night so there isn’t much info out on it yet. I did find one article this morning saying it was extinguished but based on snapchat video below shot by a firefighter at around 7:45AM, it looks like the fire still hasn’t been put out.

BBC published an article today bringing into spotlight Kuwait’s Shlonik Covid-19 contact-tracing app calling it once of the most invasive in the world along with Bahrain’s BeAware app. BBC goes even further by describing them both as “mass surveillance tools”.

Most contact-tracing apps rely solely on Bluetooth signals, but Bahrain and Kuwait’s capture location data through GPS and upload this to a central database, tracking the movements of users in real time.

The researchers say Bahraini and Kuwaiti authorities would be able to easily link this sensitive personal information to an individual, as users are required to register with a national ID number. Other countries’ contact tracing apps anonymise users. Source

I’m guessing citizens under forced home quarantine can’t do much about this but everyone else will probably delete the app once the article makes its rounds today. It will also be interesting to see how Zain will distance itself from all this since this can’t be a good look for them.

Global research company OMDIA released a 5G Market Progress Assessment report which shows Kuwait ranked 2nd worldwide. The report was based on five different assessment criteria that included spectrum availability, service launches, network coverage, 5G adoption and the development of a supporting ecosystem. You can check out the full report here.

One of the best things I did was get 5G, it’s been incredibly fast and even during the lockdown when every internet connection slowed down, I was still getting over 400Mbps. On average though, my connection both at home (Salmiya) and in the office (Kuwait City) hovers at around 550-650Mbps.

Knet and the local banks have agreed to increase the transaction amount for contactless payments without having to use your pin code from KD10 to KD25. I’m a big fan of just tapping to pay, especially now with the whole corona situation so pretty glad they’ve done this.

Yesterday it was announced that in order to reduce the spread of the Coronavirus, movie theaters in Kuwait would be temporarily shut down. I understand the idea behind this, but I think there were more people waiting in line for a burger at Wachamean last night than there were people at the movies. If we’re closing down theaters and schools because it’s this big of a deal, then we should really close down the whole country for two weeks and not just the cinemas.

Note: Just to clarify, I don’t want the country to shut down, quite the opposite, I think businesses are suffering as is.

Deputy Minister of Public Works Ismail Al-Failakawi announced that the new airport project will open in August 2022, according to the schedule, indicating that the second package project for the airport has been recommended for award at the lowest prices, and we are awaiting the final approval of the agency reports Al Rai.

Al-Failakawi said, on the sidelines of the inspection tour organized by the Ministry yesterday in the presence of Secretary General of the Supreme Council for Planning and Development Khaled Mahdi, “There are no obstacles facing the project, as work is currently being done in cooperation and coordination with the contractor, consultant and the Supreme Council for Planning to remove any obstacles.” He explained that the project is going According to the schedule, there is no delay, as the completion rate was 26.9 percent. Source

I’m not trying to be pessimistic here but I passed by the new airport this past weekend (picture above) and I can’t see how it will be completed by August 2022. That’s just two years away which seems crazy but then again, it’s a Diwan Amiri project so maybe 2 more years of construction doesn’t seem too far reached.

Originally the first phase of the metro was meant to be completed 2020 but that’s obviously not happening since work hasn’t even begun. But now according to Kuwait Times, there is a new updated plan for the metro network:

The Metropolitan Rapid Transit System Project (KMRT) will be built over five phases stretching over 160 kilometers, and will have 68 stations along three lines, according to the plan. The first phase of the project includes a railway stretching 50 kilometers from Kuwait City to Kuwait International Airport, with 27 new stations, 30 percent of which will be underground with two underground stations, heavy duty maintenance warehouse. The first phase will cover areas in several governorates and include nine stations within Kuwait’s business center. Source

No completion date was given this time around…