09:47 PM
Wednesday 31 August 2022
I wrote – Heba Khamis:
A few days ago, the Kuwaiti Minister of State for Municipal Affairs, “Rana Al-Fares”, announced the implementation of a plan to “Kuwait” the administrative jobs in the ministry, and to empower Kuwaiti cadres. This sparked a state of controversy among the expatriates, especially the Egyptians among them.
The number of Egyptians working in Kuwait in the government sector is estimated at 31 thousand workers, according to the report issued by the Egyptian Labor Representative Office in the State of Kuwait, while the number of Egyptians working in the Kuwaiti Ministry of Municipality and its departments is estimated at 1,000 workers, and not all of them will be negatively affected, according to the statements of Counselor Ahmed Ibrahim, head of the labor representation office. In the State of Kuwait, which confirmed that the decision will include those who work in administrative jobs only.
The reason for accelerating the decision to Kuwaitize municipal jobs in the Gulf state is due to the escalating unemployment rate in Kuwait and the slowdown in economic growth, according to the minister’s statements, as the number of unemployed Kuwaitis reached about 14.8 thousand Kuwaitis, but this plan will represent a burden on the state budget, as Kuwaitis’ salaries are higher than the salaries of Kuwaitis expatriates, and the state will have to spend more to cover the difference in salaries.
As for “Islam Ashraf”, who is a pseudonym for an Egyptian employee in the municipality, the decisions seem urgent and ill-considered, as “Al-Fares”, who was the Minister of Housing before and took the same decisions in the Ministry of Housing, and after her transfer to the municipality, the Ministry of Housing restored the expatriates who were dispensed during her reign because of need work for them.
“The first time people came to the decision, I thought that this concerns all expatriates, and rumors spread that the country will destroy all expatriates, and this is not true. The decision is only for the municipality,” says Islam Ashraf.
The implementation of the first phase of Kuwaitization of municipal jobs begins tomorrow, Thursday, the first of September, as the ministry dispenses with 33% of the expatriates, while the second phase of the same percentage, and in the last phase next July to get rid of all expatriates in the municipality.
Ashraf feels unfair, because there is an accompanying decision that the employees and engineers who will be laid off from the municipality, cannot work again on any municipality-related projects.
“The idea is that the ministries use consulting offices and private companies in projects related to the ministries. The employees are responsible for the office and the company, but they work in the ministries or the municipality, so I do not understand the meaning of the decision that they are denied work in anything related to the municipality.”
Ashraf feels that there is a lot of racism, in those decisions that play on Kuwaiti nationalism, and hostile to the expatriate as taking Kuwaiti jobs, but he knows that the Kuwaiti people themselves understand well those decisions that flirt with him so that ministers remain in their places and representatives are elected again.
Ashraf does not know what will happen if he is dispensed with, according to plan, there are no alternative plans.
“My livelihood is with our Lord, not with the employer, and anyone in a position now likes to make a media bang, so he talks about the expatriate as if the expatriate is coming to take money without working, his job is good.”
Alaa Selim, head of the Egyptian community in Kuwait, confirms that the decision will not include all Egyptians in the municipality, whose nature of work is (administrators, accountants, engineers, technicians, etc.), explaining that the workers who will be dispensed can transfer to another party and work in a place or Another field other than the municipality, where the same decision was issued in 2017 and 2020 regarding the Kuwaitiization of many jobs in some government agencies.
In other sectors and the rest of the ministries in Kuwait are not affected much by these decisions, the situation is as it is, for “Mohammed Salem”, who is a pseudonym at the request of his owner who is an employee in the stock exchange, the decision does not mean anything to him. Despite the Ministry of Finance’s plan for Kuwaitization, the matter from his point of view does not work. The Egyptians in the financial sector account for a significant proportion, especially in the private sector companies that are not subject to the Kuwaitization plan, and the majority of expatriates work in these companies.
“Currently, the number of Egyptians in the ministries remains very small, because they have already started the Kuwaitization plan for 4 years now, and every year there are statements of replacement and appointment due to unemployment.”
But despite the dispensation of expatriates in ministries and government jobs, the employee still finds another job easily. From Salem’s point of view, the Kuwaiti market has many job opportunities and is constantly renewed, according to the projects announced by the state.
Like the new Kuwait Airport project, which has been under construction for five years now, these projects make the labor market turn in construction, engineering and construction until the project is completed.
“Salem” believes that because of the suspension of issuing visas since the pandemic, and until now, the worker who used to work a day of 7 dinars has become daily ranging from 15 to 20 dinars, and there is a shortage of labor in several places.
“The deficit strengthens the worker and employee and increases his income because there are very large sectors of the state that it is difficult to find Kuwaitis to fill them.”
These sectors include the education and health sector, which has a very large shortage of doctors and nursing. “Salem” knows that the situation is sometimes difficult for an expatriate who suffers from the anxiety of letting go of him in a moment, but that concern concerns ministries, a very small percentage that is not like the rumors spread.