FNC to debate extra housing allowance for Emirati men with multiple wives

FNC member Ahmad Al Amash (RAK) has suggested to the government advisory body that husbands with multiple wives were suffering financially.

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ABU DHABI // The FNC this week will debate whether housing allowances should be increased for Emirati men who have more than one wife.

FNC member Ahmad Al Amash (RAK) has suggested to the government advisory body that husbands with multiple wives were suffering financially.

“The salaries ladder has allocated 40 per cent housing allowance for single employees and 60 per cent for the married ones,” he said. “But the 60 per cent is fixed and does not increase if he remarries.

“This increases the family burden on the employee if he becomes the financial provider of two families instead of one.”

He said this hampered the objective of the UAE’s rulers to establish a comfortable life for all Emiratis.

“So in order for happiness to be achieved as per the efforts of the leadership, we are requesting the ministry amends the laws to achieve that goal.”

The issue will be put to the Education Minister, Humaid Al Qattami, who is also head of the Federal Human Resources Authority.

Another question that will be raised tomorrow is the general policy of the Islamic Affairs Authority.

“It will be a comprehensive talk about the authority’s procedures,” said Mr Al Amash. “There are four points of discussion regarding the issues the authority is concerned with.

“It will be under the umbrella that the country’s religion is Islam and the whole world is a part of the UAE since every nationality exists here.”

The authority oversees a range of religious affairs, including managing mosques, issuing fatwas, and organising Haj and Umrah pilgrimages to Mecca. It also prints and distributes copies of the Quran and other religious supplements, supervises Quranic recitation centres and trains imams and preachers.

Another question, raised by member Rashad Bukhash (Dubai), concerns the role of international organisations and societies in the country.

He said general welfare societies in various fields such as medicine, engineering and history had offices elsewhere in the world.

“Yet none of them have branches inside the country,” he said in his question to the Minister of FNC

Affairs, Dr Anwar Gargash.

He related this to the fact that there was no law that organises the work of international organisations inside the UAE.

Meanwhile, Salem Al Ameri (Abu Dhabi) has asked Mohammed Al Gergawi, the Minister of Cabinet Affairs, about ways of encouraging more volunteer work.

He argued that participating in volunteer work during free time was a good opportunity to serve

the country and to gain valuable experience.

He suggested an umbrella organisation to oversee volunteer work, and more media focus on encouraging Emiratis to take up volunteer work.

Federal and local departments should also pay more attention to volunteer work, he added.

Another FNC member, Dr Sheikha Al Owais, asked the Social Affairs Minister, Mariam Al Roumi, what committees have been formed to provide better services for the disabled.

hdajani@thenational.ae