The municipal council is the big problem preventing us from getting land; not all of the members, just the Islamic fundamentalists 

Leader of the Greek Catholic Church Archimandrite Boutro Gharib

Recently the municipal council blocked an attempt by the Greek Catholic Church to acquire land in Mahboula, an area in the Ahmadi governorate south of Kuwait City.

According to Gharib both the government and the country’s head, the emir, Sabah al-Ahmad al-Sabah, have given their approval and blessing to the Church to have its property built.

“The council did not give us any reason,” he added.

Gharib said the request was pending for several years and that building the church aims to reduce over-crowdedness in a villa currently used for worshiping.

He also said that it is not the first time the municipal council turns down the request to build a church. A member from the council, Mohammed al-Hadiya denied that there was any religious discrimination in Kuwait.

"Don't listen to the rumors. We don't mind about the church - the issue is about the area where they want to build," Said al-Hadiya said. "There is not enough parking in that place. It would be too crowded."

He also said the council is against the proposed site and not against building a church.

"This is the first time we have dealt with this request.”

He also denied that there were extremist Muslims in the municipal council halting the project and referred to rumors about that as "not correct." He also stressed that the Council "respects all religions."

 We found the higher levels of government say yes and the lower levels of government say no 

Andrew Thompson, the Anglican chaplain to Kuwait

The church said the government had proposed an area of 7,500 square meters that included land for buildings and parking. Elian Farah, a board member of the Greek Catholic Church, said that the government suggested parishioners use the parking facilities of two schools that were being built nearby on the weekends and the evenings in addition to their dedicated parking area.

On the other hand, Hadiya said the council did not consider a specific land area in their deliberations.

"We're looking for a better place for people to pray," said Mane al-Ajami, the chairman of a committee in the Ahmadi governorate that gives recommendations to the council on how land should be used. He said a previous decision to allocate land for school parking would have to be cancelled before a church could be built on the proposed site.

"This is different from what we have been told," Farah said.

Jassim al-Randi, the manager of the chairman of the council's office, said the suggestion that the council has had refused land for the church is "propaganda". He said if an area is selected that does not conflict with car parks, schools or government buildings, the council will approve the proposal within two or three weeks.

"They oppose maybe the size of the land itself," said Jassim al-Mubaraki, head of the Arab world department at the ministry of foreign affairs, adding that the church’s failure to secure land is “a technical issue”.

Gharib said his church is paying $6,944 a month for a villa which is also shared by two other congregations. He added that if they could not find land soon, the church would have to close. "It's all excuses. It's all lies," he said. "Every time they promise, but all their promises are for nothing."
"We will find a solution - this is not finished yet," al-Mubaraki said. “Kuwait is, and will remain, a country where religion is practiced freely.”

"We found the higher levels of government say yes and the lower levels of government say no" to new churches, said Andrew Thompson, the Anglican chaplain to Kuwait from 2006 to 2010, who is now based in Abu Dhabi.

Rev Thompson reiterated Gharib’s suggestion that the municipality was controlled by religious fundamentalists.

The one success the Christian community has had in the past 40 years was when the Egyptian Copts secured land for a new church, but even they have had trouble getting a building permit, Rev Thompson said. "We know what's going on - it's appeasement."

There are around 650 families from the Greek Catholic community in Kuwait, and they are not the only Christian group struggling to find space to worship in the country.

Around 460,000 Christians share four official churches - two Catholic, an Evangelical and an Anglican - and one more Coptic church is under construction.