THE nationalization of jobs is a crucial matter for any country, due to which it must work on achieving this goal. Article 26 of the Kuwaiti Constitution stipulates that, “(1) Public office is a national service entrusted to those who hold it. Public officials, in the exercise of their duties, shall aim at the public interest. (2) Foreigners may not hold public offices except in the cases specified by law.” Unfortunately, this article has been suspended for decades due to chaotic practices in employing non-Kuwaitis. If a non-citizen is needed for a task, it is considered temporary rather than permanent.
Therefore, the government must address this issue by first reviewing the employment structure in the public sector and aligning it with the current needs of the labor market. Secondly, it should focus on increasing citizens’ involvement in the private sector, rather than settling for arbitrary placements in sectors where some employees enjoy greater benefits than others, such as the oil sector where there is an oversupply. On the other hand, there is a false slogan that has become common among Kuwaitis - “A Kuwaiti does not work in this or that profession, and he dislikes it”, but the truth is otherwise.
The brief period of the invasion had revealed that citizens are capable of working in various professions. We saw citizens working as bakers, barbers, mechanics, and in other occupations during that time. This opportunity has not been exploited over the past three decades. What is worse is that the use of non-Kuwaitis has expanded to the point where the government employment apparatus is saturated with expatriates. Is it reasonable that a small country with few citizens, such as Kuwait with 1.518 million citizens, needs 2.858 million expatriate workers to serve them?
While successive governments promoted Kuwaitization, they undermined it by allowing recruitment agencies to place non- Kuwaiti employees who had resigned from the public sector into the positions they were occupying, thereby increasing the financial costs. In this regard, I remember an event in the Sultanate of Oman, which was attended by the late Sultan Qaboos bin Saeed. During the horse parade, some of the horses had defecated. A Filipino worker emerged to clean it, but as soon as the Sultan saw him, he asked an aide, “Why was the worker not Omani?”
The official replied that the worker’s salary is approximately USD 300, and a citizen will not work in this profession, as he expects a salary of about USD 1,000. He therefore mandated that Omanis should receive competitive salaries across all professions. This is why today you see national workers throughout Oman. Omanis are working as taxi drivers, in hotels and other such professions. Also in Bahrain, citizens work in all professions, and there is nothing wrong with honorable work. In Saudi Arabia, following the Saudization decision, the percentage of Saudis working in all professions increased to about 70 percent. Women also started working in many professions.
There are even taxi drivers. The standard of living of Saudis has thus improved. Kuwait’s problem is multi-faceted. First is the multiplicity of job cadres in the public sector. Second, there is no vision for the localization of professions and jobs. Thirdly, there are no incentives for citizens to work in various public and private sectors. Fourth is the indiscriminate support for national workers and lack of oversight. Fifth is the government’s lack of seriousness in all of this. Because of all this, the state will continue to suffer. If the current government is serious about addressing the crisis of depletion of public reserves, it must look into these problems and develop serious solutions to them. The nationalization of jobs and professions is the first step towards independence and strength for any country.
By Ahmed Al-Jarallah
Editor-in-Chief, the Arab Tim
