Owners of small and medium enterprises accused MPs of failing more than 17,000 Kuwaiti family heads, following the decision by the National Assembly to drop the financial security law in its session on Thursday, which has left their future in a precarious state as they face mounting bills with a limited cash flow. They expressed their anger at the Kuwaiti MPs, who rejected the draft law in the latest parliament session to provide financing for businesses impacted by the coronavirus preventative measures, known as the financial security law, in its second deliberation, Al Qabas reported.
They emphasized their plight that more than 17,000 Kuwaiti family heads are facing difficult circumstances as their businesses are suffering while they are stressed by obligations such as rents, employees’ salaries, and the dues of the suppliers. Many of them have post-dated checks, and lease lawsuits, in addition to labor lawsuits that are expected to go to the judiciary, which has caused concern of ending up in prison when all they wished for is to be successful businessmen.
They denounced some MP’s abuse of the law, saying to Al-Qabas daily: “The National Assembly dropped the financial security law without providing the slightest solutions to save them or improve their financial conditions, which has collapsed due to the suspension of work and the total and partial curfew to stem the spread of the coronavirus.”
They added, “We were suspicious of the government’s intentions, but we did not expect that the blow would come to us from the nation’s MPs, who are entrusted with the role of preserving the people’s interests. Unfortunately, some MPs stood against the financial security law for political and electoral reasons, not technical ones.”
Al Qabas daily quoting, on his part, entrepreneur, Dhari Al-Mithen, said, “Refusing to pass the bill will have a negative impact on most companies, most of which will be forced into closure and to liquidate their businesses, especially with the inability of some of them to pay their financial obligations in light of the difficult circumstances the market is going through.”
He continued: “The next stage will also witness a significant increase in the number of court cases that real estate owners will file against the tenants, due to their inability to pay rents and financial obligations incurred as a result of the coronavirus crisis.”
Al-Mithen indicated that the government and parliament members’ abandonment of providing assistance and support to owners of small and medium enterprises will push the majority of entrepreneurs to abandon their enterprises in the private sector and go to line up in front of the Civil Service Bureau to get a government job, especially after events proved that the government and the Council did not believe in the private sector and in the owners of small and medium-sized enterprises, which will increase government burdens through inflation of the budget.”
He stressed the need for every MP to assume his responsibility in the upcoming elections, after he abandoned the entrepreneurs and dealt with the financial security bill from a political perspective only, without paying attention to the economic and social repercussions for it.
On her part, Tahani Al-Daihani, one of the business leaders in Kuwait, said: “What happened in the National Assembly session, indicated that at the beginning of the crisis that affected the majority of businesses in Kuwait, there was a government sense in not helping the owners of small enterprises, as evidenced by the passing of 6 months without significant rescue measures, despite the government’s realization that these businesses will suffer, and it would have been more appropriate to support such enterprises financially.”
In related news, Abdullah Al-Ajmi, a member of the Entrepreneur Group in Kuwait, said that dropping the financial security law amounts to a real execution dealt against small and medium enterprises, and that rejecting the bill is an outright war on the investors and owners of small and medium enterprises to push them out of the market.”
He continued: “We hoped to pass the law despite our reservations about some of its provisions, and the owners of small and medium enterprises have worked hard during the past eight months to preserve their reputation in order to continue working in the market, which has depleted all their savings, as they have to continue paying the accumulated salaries and rents, in the hope that the government would provide the support they are owed in this crisis, considering that the government should be concerned with compensation and support, since they were the ones who ordered the work suspension.”
Al-Ajmi pointed out, “Kuwait, compared to the countries of the world and the Gulf region, is the only one that has abandoned the owners of small businesses and has not provided any kind of support that enables them to confront the negative repercussions of the coronavirus pandemic, which is the consequence of the economic suspension and introducing the longest curfew period in the world.”