Be lenient with places of worship
the director of the public authority for manpower, mrs aseel al-mazyad made a statement concerning the 100 dinars fine imposed by the authority on the catholic church because of the failure to commit to the required e m p l o y m e n t percentage of national manpower.
she added the decision came in line with the decisions of the council of m i n i s t e r s, despite the knowledge of the lack of the availability of kuwaiti christian clerics to work in the church.
it is important to emphasize here the validity of pam’s decision to impose a fine on the catholic church, despite my good relationship with the pastor and people of the church, pam is an executive body, not a legislative one and is under obligation to implement government decisions, and therefore is not to blame for what it has done.
the places of worship have a special status in almost all countries of the world, many of which are exempted from taxes. states and islamic organizations benefit from the facilities offered by western countries, especially the european countries to places of worship, especially in relation to the leniency of their construction or their associated schools and institutes, and exempting them from many conditions related to residence and the municipality, therefore they must be treated on the principle of reciprocity.
we have been waiting for so long for a decision to be taken by the council of ministers to exempt all places of worship from the proportion of employment, at least in higher jobs related to worship, and religious rituals.
as for aseel’s knowledge of the impossibility of the availability of christian clerics to work in the church, it is an incorrect statement. there are more than 200 kuwaiti christians and rev emmanuel ghareeb, the pastor of the kuwait national evangelical church in kuwait is one of them. even if we have christian kuwaitis, the small number of them does not guarantee representatives of all sects among them, and if they find they may not be willing to work for the church for many reasons.
if there are any kuwaiti christians among us, what about the followers of other religions. therefore, it is necessary to make an urgent decision to exempt the places of worship, and for any sect or religion they belong to from the condition of commitment to the percentage of national labor, while giving them time to employ national manpower during a certain period in simple administrative jobs, to the satisfaction of both parties.
cooperation and sympathy with church institutions are not strange to kuwaitis. a number of them, including the late ruler of kuwait, sheikh ahmad al-jaber, at the beginning of the last century provided various kinds of assistance to the american evangelical church, both in the establishment of their diocese, which is still in place and managed by national manpower, or the establishment of the american hospital thereafter.
others also participated in providing assistance for such humanitarian acts. many citizens did not hesitate to attend the church’s classes and learn english and some other sciences. for all these reasons, we hope that the council of ministers will move quickly to exclude places of worship from the conditions of the public authority for manpower. our humanity requires us do so.
