Kuwait member of Parliament request to deport all Ethiopian workers after Ethiopian maid admits killing a girl

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MAID ADMITS TO MURDER OF 19-YEAR-OLD KUWAITI GIRL

MPs Erupt In Anger…Call For Expulsions

KUWAIT CITY : An Ethiopian housemaid allegedly killed the 19-yearold daughter of Deputy Director General of the Public Authority for Youths and Sports (PAYS) Hamoud Fulaitah while she was sleeping at 6:00 am on Sunday. Preliminary investigations revealed the suspect, a 22-year-old Ethiopian housemaid, stabbed the victim in the chest and stomach four times.

The victim’s family found her lying in a pool of blood in her room; realizing it was useless rushing her to the hospital because she was already dead. The Criminal Evidence Department officers took her corpse and referred it to Forensics.

A security source disclosed the housemaid, after committing the crime, shut the door in the victim’s room and fled to Sulaibikhat Police Station where she reported the incident. She informed police that she killed the girl due to a dispute she had with her sponsor. The officers then referred her case to the Public Prosecution for the necessary legal action.

This is the 13th murder case involving a domestic worker against the sponsor, compared to sponsors committing the same act against their maids this year alone. The situation calls for a thorough investigation to determine factors leading to such incidents in order to take the necessary steps to prevent recurrence of such incidents in the future.

Meanwhile, statistical data obtained from Director of Public Affairs and Security Information at the Ministry of Interior Colonel Adel Al-Hashash revealed the Ethiopian population in Kuwait has reached 81,000; out of which 45,000 work as housemaids for Kuwaitis and expatriates. He confirmed the authority has prohibited recruiting housemaids from Ethiopia since two months ago.

He warned that anybody who defies the order by providing shelter to Ethiopian housemaids will face the legal consequences. He affirmed the authority will not be lenient with evil doers, because the government is not ready to trivialize security of lives and properties. He added that recruiting housemaids from Pakistan, Bangladesh and Ethiopia has been banned.

KUWAIT CITY : Several lawmakers have expressed their anger over the killing of a Kuwaiti girl by an Ethiopian housemaid in Sulaibikhat on Sunday, calling on the Interior Ministry to immediately take the necessary action. According to the lawmakers, the ministry should not just stop the recruitment of Ethiopian maids but also deport all those currently working in the country.

They expressed condolences to the family of the victim and urged all Kuwaiti families to terminate the services of their Ethiopian maids regardless of the cost. MP Talal Al-Jalala pointed out the people of Kuwait were shocked by the news on the brutal killing of the Kuwaiti girl who belonged to a prominent family. He asked the concerned authority to impose death penalty on the maid who admitted the crime, indicating the media must be allowed to cover the implementation of the punishment to serve as a deterrent to others.

The lawmaker stressed the need to oblige housemaids to undergo tests regularly to ensure they are not suffering from any psychological illness. He said this is the responsibility of Social Affairs and Labor Minister Hind Al-Sabeeh, in coordination with the Ministry of Health. He also emphasized the need to conduct a study on domestic workers who commit crimes to look into patterns like nationality, age and other factors to help the State take a decision on stopping the recruitment of housemaids from a particular country based on the results of the study. He also suggested imposing tougher punishment on ‘killer’ maids and to open a special file for maids in Kuwait. He clarified he has no intention to discriminate the housemaids or downplay their role, because his aim is to guarantee the safety of citizens and residents.

Commenting on the same issue, MP Humoud Al-Hamdan asserted the number of crimes involving foreign communities, particularly the Ethiopians; has been increasing at an alarming rate. He asked the government to take precautionary measures before allowing maids to enter the country; such as ensuring they have no mental or psychological problem, and are free from infectious diseases. He also underscored the importance of organizing public awareness campaigns in different languages to familiarize the expatriate workers on the local culture and nature of the Kuwaiti society, as well as ways of dealing with people from all walks of life.

Moreover, MP Abdullah Al- Tamimi holds the domestic worker offices accountable for the inappropriate procedures in hiring housemaids, especially those from Ethiopia. He underlined the need to lay down rules and regulations in recruiting housemaids that must be followed by these offices. He said the security statistics he studied recently revealed that most expatriates accused of committing murder came from Ethiopia, especially the women.

He added the Interior Ministry must deport these housemaids as soon as possible to prevent such crimes. He also urged all Kuwaiti families to end contracts with Ethiopian maids, if they have, in spite of the huge financial losses; stressing the Interior Ministry should quickly take the necessary measures to repatriate Ethiopian domestic workers. He argued this is not the first time that an Ethiopian is accused of murder as a number of such cases had earlier been recorded.

MP Khalil Al-Saleh asked the government to stop the heinous act of the Ethiopian community and it should not be lenient towards them to prevent recurrence of killings. He added the murder of a young Kuwaiti girl on Sunday is a heinous crime which should not go unpunished, especially since this is the 11th time an Ethiopian is involved in a murder or attempted murder case. Al-Saleh disclosed more than 80,000 Ethiopians are currently living in Kuwait and most of them are domestic workers. He then applead to Deputy Premier and Minister of Interior Sheikh Sabah Al- Khalid Al-Sabah to stop domestic worker offices from hiring Ethiopian maids.

MP Saleh Ashour asserted this incident is not new to us and its repetition indicates failure in the government. He asked the Ministry of Interior what steps it has taken to curb the rising number of murder cases. MP Safa Al-Hashem sympathized with the young Kuwaiti girl’s family, asking the government why Indonesian laborers have been banned from entering Kuwait while members of a community implicated in several murders are allowed to stay in the country. She said the number of murders committed by Ethiopians totaled 11.