Kuwait: MoU on anti-corruption cooperation with Egypt gets harsh critics

Lawmakers and activists in Kuwait have lambasted the Gulf country’s Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with Egypt on anti-corruption cooperation noting that the most populated Arab country is not a reference on the fight against corruption.

Kuwait’s Anti-Corruption Authority (Nazaha) and Egypt’s Administrative Control Authority (ACA) have signed an agreement to fight corruption jointly.

The agreement, Nazaha said in a statement “will help boost bilateral cooperation between the government of Kuwait represented by Nazaha and the Egyptian government represented by ACA.”

The deal, according to state-run news agency KUNA, is in the framework of United Nations Convention against Corruption, which urges member states to unite and cooperate through bilateral understandings and agreements.

Abdul Karim Al-Kandari, a Kuwaiti lawmaker argued that the Gulf country has lost credibility by signing such agreement with Egypt, a country that “sits at bottom of Transparency International corruption index.”

Kuwait ranks 78th on the index while Egypt occupies the 108th place.

Another critic, Salah Al-Hashem, a Kuwaiti lawmaker on Twitter urged authorities not to renew Nazaha members’ mandate.

“I tell the Minister of Justice and the Prime Minister … After signing the agreement between the Egyptian Anti-Corruption Authority and its Kuwaiti counterpart, you should immediately refrain from renewing the mandate of the members of the Board of Trustees of Nazaha.”