AMBASSADOR DISCUSSES PUBLIC HOUSING, PARLIAMENTARY

C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 02 KUWAIT 000586

SIPDIS

NOFORN
SIPDIS

NEA/ARP FOR JACKSON

E.O. 12958: DECL: 04/20/2017
TAGS: PREL PGOV ECON PINR KU NATIONAL ASSSEMBLY
KUWAIT-IRAN RELATIONS
SUBJECT: AMBASSADOR DISCUSSES PUBLIC HOUSING, PARLIAMENTARY
RELATIONS, IRAN WITH NEW HOUSING MINISTER

REF: A. KUWAIT 430

B. KUWAIT 522

Classified By: Ambassador Richard LeBaron for reasons 1.4 (b) and (d)


1. (C/NF) Summary: On 21 April, Ambassador met with new
Minister of State for Housing Affairs Abdul Wahid Al-Awadi to
congratulate him on his appointment. Al-Awadi responded, "It
is not always an honor to be a Minister in Kuwait," referring
to the sometimes rough treatment of Kuwaiti ministers by the
National Assembly. Al-Awadi did, however, express guarded
optimism that relations between the Government and National
Assembly would improve, at least in the near term. The
Minister drew attention to the Public Authority for Housing
Welfare's (PAHW) significant backlog in assigning public
housing to Kuwaiti citizens and described the process whereby
housing is assigned, which, he assured the Ambassador, is
completely free of corruption and favoritism. Al-Awadi also
referred to plans to create housing for divorced women and
bachelor migrant workers. A retired Wing Commander in the
Kuwait Air Force, the Minister expressed his concerns
regarding the effects of a potential military conflict with
Iran, while disparaging Iran's air warfare capability,
suggesting that Iran's current air power is probably inferior
to that of Kuwait or Saudi Arabia. End Summary.

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Subsidized Housing, Part of Cradle-to-Grave Welfare
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2. (SBU) On 21 April, Ambassador met with new Minister of
State for Housing Affairs Abdul Wahid Al-Awadi to
congratulate him on his appointment. The Minister explained
that the Public Authority for Housing Welfare (PAHW),which
in the previous Government had been placed under the
authority of the Minister of Public Works, is responsible for
assigning public housing to Kuwaiti citizens, each of whom,
upon marriage, is entitled to government-furnished housing on
a 400 square meter plot along with a 70,000 KD (245,000 USD)
zero-interest, 50-year mortgage. Although he admitted that
PAHW currently has a waiting list of 65-70,000 families,
Al-Awadi insisted that the assignment of homes is conducted
on a strict first-come-first-serve basis that is immune to
undue influence. In Al-Awadi's words, "Everyone knows that
wasta (the power of influential connections) doesn't count in
Housing." He added that five new residential cities
currently under construction should help to relieve the
housing backlog. Land, 98 per cent of which is owned by the
Government in Kuwait, is allocated for public housing
developments by the Kuwait Municipality with the approval of
the Oil Ministry, which must first verify that it has no
plans to use the land for oil development. PAHW employs
about 1200 staff.


3. (SBU) When the Ambassador asked about public housing for
divorced women, who are generally considered to be neglected
by PAHW, the Minister said that new housing was being planned
for divorced women, but providing housing to Kuwaiti families
would remain PAHW's priority. Al-Awadi also explained that
plans for separate bachelor housing communities for migrant
workers were the responsibility of Kuwait Municipality, not
PAHW. (Comment: Much of the impetus for creating these
expat bachelor communities seems to stem from the perception
that migrant workers are responsible for a disproportionate
share of crime in Kuwait. Creating separate housing
communities outside of the major population areas appears to
be part of an effort to isolate certain groups of migrant
workers from Kuwaiti society.)

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Guarded Optimism on Government - Parliament Relations
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4. (C/NF) When the Ambassador congratulated him on the
honor of being named Minister, Al-Awadi replied, "It is not
always an honor to be a Minister in Kuwait," referring to the
sometimes rough treatment of Kuwaiti ministers by the
National Assembly. Al-Awadi, who was elected to his second
term as an MP in 2006, said he expected relations between the
Government and the National Assembly to improve since the
Prime Minister had effectively distributed ministerial posts
among the major political blocs in the Assembly (Ref. A).
When the Ambassador asked about spillover from political
infighting within the ruling Al-Sabah family into the
National Assembly, Al-Awadi said that some factions of the
ruling family try to pull strings in the Assembly to serve
their own special interests. He also stressed, however, that
the Assembly serves, or has served in the past, to provide a

KUWAIT 00000586 002 OF 002


broad base of public support for Al-Sabah rule. Al-Awadi
said a large majority of MPs were in favor of improved
relations with the Government, at least in the near term. He
noted, however, that one drawback of Kuwaiti democracy is
that a single MP can effectively obstruct the entire
Government through threats to grill ministers. He referred
specifically to MP Dailfallah Buramya, who continues to
threaten to grill the Finance Minister, despite the fact that
he has very little support from other MPs (Ref. B). Al-Awadi
described Buramya's efforts as a populist demagoguery related
to the Finance Minister's opposition to Buramya's proposal to
have the Government write off Kuwaitis' consumer loans.
Al-Awadi suggested that the eventual formation of political
parties, which do not have a legal status in Kuwait, might
help to reduce the ability of individual MPs to paralyze the
Government.

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Concerns about the Iranian Threat and Middle East Peace
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5. (C/NF) As a former Wing Commander in the Kuwait Air
Force, Al-Awadi said he feared the effects of a potential
confrontation with Iran. He said he believed that Iranian
generals were likely being honest with the Iranian leadership
in their assessment of the weakness of Iran's military
capability in comparison with that of the United States (in
contrast to Saddam's generals, who dared not bring bad news).
He said that in terms of air power, he believed Iran's
capability to be even weaker than that of Kuwait or Saudi
Arabia, since the Iranian aircraft are old and inadequately
maintained. Al-Awadi said he did not understand Iran's need
for nuclear weapon, since Iran already enjoys a position of
strategic dominance in the region based on its population,
resources, and size of its armed forces.


6. (C/NF) On the Middle East peace process, Al-Awadi said he
found it encouraging that all of the principal stakeholders
seemed to be talking seriously about the real issues that
need to be addressed. He said he was particularly impressed
by the leadership being shown by King Abdullah of Saudi
Arabia.

Bio Note
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7. (C/NF) Al-Awadi graduated from U.S. Navy Flight School at
NAS Pensacola in 1977. He was trained as a helicopter pilot
and flew the H-1 Huey. He later underwent training in the UK
to become a flight instructor. In 1990, Al-Awadi was one of
the pilots who flew Kuwaiti aircraft to Saudi Arabia to
escape the invading Iraqi forces. He retired from the Kuwait
Air Force in 1992. Al-Awadi has two adult daughters and a
teenage son.

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For more reporting from Embassy Kuwait, visit:

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Visit Kuwait's Classified Website:

http://www.state.sgov.gov/p/nea/kuwait/

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LeBaron