To reduce the number of expats and minimize road congestion in Kuwait, a female National Assembly member, Safa al Hashem presented a proposal to parliament against expatriates, which suggests a driving license ban of one-year on foreigners.
She strongly backed Muhammad Al Ansari’s idea of a yearlong driving suspension on expatriates (except the family drivers) and even suggested it should be renewed every year until the traffic problem is resolved. She further demanded not to let expats buy any car without license.
Al Hashem has been known for openly expressing hateful feelings toward expats, even suggesting they should pay tax for walking down the road and pay their medical expenses, no matter how poor their situation maybe.
Furthermore, she asked to tie expat’s work permits to their driving license to eliminate fraudulent cases. Foreigners with no license from their home country must not be allowed to have one in Kuwait, which would automatically lower his chances to own a car.
Al Hashem’s growing concern for Kuwaitis clearly stems from rapidly increasing number of expats in the country. Statistics shows that 70% population of Kuwait, around 4.4 million, consists of foreigners. This demographic imbalance in her opinion needs to be addressed.
This driving license ban on foreigners has raised quite an upheaval in the country. When confronted to explain her harsh sentiments about expats she defended herself saying, she was merely being patriotic rather than ethnocentric.