KUWAIT CITY, 18 April 2005 — A group of serving and former Kuwaiti MPs have decided to set up a local unit of a worldwide organization fighting corruption amid allegations of rising graft among government officials, an MP said yesterday.
The Kuwait chapter of the Global Organization of Parliamentarians Against Corruption (GOPAC) is slated to be launched later this month, said Islamist MP Nasser Al-Sane, who is vice chairman of GOPAC and head of the Arab chapter.
The chapter will become the third anti-corruption unit of GOPAC in Arab parliaments after the Palestinian Authority and Yemen, Sane said.
The Berlin-based graft watchdog Transparency International said in its report last year that a rise in perceived corruption had been observed in Kuwait which went up from 35th position to 44th among 146 countries surveyed.
Last week, several Kuwaiti MPs called on the state minister for Cabinet affairs, Mohammad Daifallah Sharar, to quit over graft charges, some of which had been confirmed by the Audit Bureau, the state’s accounting watchdog.
GOPAC, which includes 250 parliamentarians from 72 countries, was formed in 2002 to promote accountability, integrity and transparency, and to combat corruption.
Five US Marines Injured in Accident
Five US Marines were injured in a road accident, but their injuries were not life-threatening, a spokesman for the American military said yesterday.
The accident took place on a highway Saturday afternoon and all the Marines were in one vehicle, said Lt. Col. Pete Pearse, declining to give further details until an investigation is complete.
The Marines were hospitalized, Pearse said. He would not elaborate.
More than 18,000 American troops are in Kuwait.
