Eng Al-mousa Sets A 25% Minimum Point For Rehiring Kuwaitis In New Contracts

Private companies that sign contracts with the Ministry of Works and its affiliates, according to the terms and conditions of the contract signed with the Ministry of Works and its affiliates, which are in the pre-tender stage, must hire a minimum of 25% Kuwaitis, according to a recent decision signed by the Minister of Works, Minister of Electricity, Water and Renewable Energy, Eng. Ali Al-Mousa.

The decision specifies Kuwaitization as an inherent component of the contractual paperwork for Ministry of Works projects, according to the minister (owned by as the state contractor). He also stated that a team would be created to oversee each party's execution of the Kuwaitization programme in accordance with the rules and regulations. According to a local Arabic newspaper, he said, "The decision intends to give new career prospects for Kuwaiti youth and lessen the pressure on the Civil Service Commission owing to the increasing number of job seekers."

He said that it also strives to realise the state's ambition of boosting the proportion of national workers in the private sector and replacing expatriates with national workers in government contracts and projects.

He noted that the Public Works Authority has worked hard with the relevant authorities to implement the policy in its projects and achieve the desired results, noting that the regulations governing the decision include controls governing the advertising and recruitment process on contracts, agreements, and projects concluded by the entities subject to it, as well as the benefits provided to national workers in terms of vacations, health insurance, and bonuses, among other things.

The decision's executive regulations, which Al-Qabas obtained a copy of, contain more than 50 articles outlining the mechanism for requiring contractors, consultants, and implementing agencies to carry out the decision, assuming that the Kuwaitization team is competent to decide on jobs that cannot be quantified due to their nature.

The regulation requires the entity to notify the Public Authority for Manpower of the number of workers required and the conditions to be met prior to direct contracting, tenders, or practises so that the authority can comment on the conditions and determine the number of national workers on the contract and follow up on their employment.

According to the regulation, workers who worked on the same contracts before they expired will be given priority in the appointment, with the understanding that the appointed person's salary will not be less than the last salary he received on the previous contract, and that the contractor will be fined a daily fine for each unemployed worker, plus 30 percent of the fine's value from the contract's start date.

The Ministry organised a committee to examine Kuwaitization in contracts in July 2020, led by Eng. Walid Al-Ghanim, Undersecretary of the Sanitary Engineering Sector, with members from the Public Authority for Manpower and Kuwait University.

Eng Eman Al-Omar, Director of the Ministry's Planning Department, said that recruitment procedures for newly graduated and experienced workers will be carried out in coordination with PAM, which will nominate whomever it deems appropriate from among those registered with it, and that the Kuwaitization unit will be responsible for the recruitment procedures, job announcement mechanisms, and test administration.

According to sources, the regulation requires the contractor to not terminate the service of a Kuwaiti worker or transfer him to another contract unless the ministry gives written approval, and the contractor must appoint a Kuwaiti replacement with the option of re-appointing those whose services were terminated or who had resigned earlier, in accordance with the regulation.

The new Kuwaitization regulation in the Ministry of Works provides for the payment of social allowances and children's allowances to Kuwaitis in accordance with the rules and regulations through the Public Authority for Manpower, provided that working hours are limited to 48 hours per week in the private sector, and anything beyond that is considered overtime. Women are also allowed to work between the hours of ten p.m. and seven a.m., according to the laws.

After 6 months of continuous labour, a Kuwaiti worker is entitled to 40 days of the yearly vacation, and he may be given leave to follow a sick person for up to 90 days without pay.

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