KUWAIT CITY, May 17: According to a senior official the Kuwait Municipality is expected to witness a sea of change after the Eid Al-Fitr holiday.

The sources indicate the State Minister for Municipal Affairs Engineer Walid Al-Jassem has been putting in place a plan since he assumed charge of the ministry to use the latest technology in the Municipality and the Municipal Councils to keeping in mind the Kuwait Vision 2030.

He pointed out that once all the records and data are fed in the e-program the Municipality will not require a sea of employees. According to the same official the minister has instructed the Municipality officials to prepare a list of expatriate employees working at the municipality and to implement the policy of replacement with national workforce after the Eid holiday, stressing the number is not 1,000 as rumors have put it but it is much bigger than that.

The source emphasized the Minister has instructed the executive branch in the Municipality to stop appointing expatriates and reduce their numbers during the next stage and to strive to support and provide job opportunities for national cadres in line with the policy of replacement.

The minister is expected to hold a meeting with the senior officials will meet with leaders after the Eid Al-Fitr holiday to discuss the process of Kuwaitization, especially in administrative jobs such as secretaries and employees in the General Registry Department. He indicated the termination of the services of the expatriate staff will take place after the Eid, indicating the Minister of Municipal Affairs has asked to prepare the files of a number of employees, in addition to the numbers of administrators who can be dispensed with.

For his part, Municipal Council member Hamad Al-Mudalaj valued the decision of the Minister of State for Municipal Affairs to implement the replacement policy that would create job opportunities for citizens, because he is convinced that any reform plan begins with a real partnership with the citizen and gives him a real opportunity to serve the country, as we have witnessed the accomplishments and sacrifices of the Kuwaitis during the current Corona crisis.

Al-Mudalaj demanded that the minister take the same decision with the legal department, “the municipality’s lawyers,” especially since this administration has not opened its doors to citizens since 2005. On the other hand, the Qabas daily said the directives issued by the Minister of State for Municipal Affairs Eng. Walid Al-Jassem included are based on stopping to receive any requests to appoint expatriates for all jobs in the municipality’s sectors and departments and halting the completion of the procedures for any new appointments for expatriates in those jobs and canceling the measures taken in this regard.

This is in addition to not renewing the employment contracts of expatriates in all sectors and departments of the municipality; canceling the procedures for completing the renewal of expatriate employees’ contracts and taking the necessary measures to terminate their contracts in accordance with the laws and regulations in force in this regard.

He also favors activating the automation system in all sectors and municipal administration to dispense with the largest possible number of expatriate employees and reviewing the number of expatriates working in the municipality and reducing their numbers according to the required specialties and the actual need for work to the maximum, and taking the necessary procedures to terminate the contracts of those who are laid off in accordance with the laws and regulations in this regard.

The decision includes working in coordination with the Civil Service Commission to hire Kuwaitis registered with the CSC to occupy those jobs in implementation of the replacement policy

By Abdulnasser Al-Aslami Al-Seyassah Staff