Parliamentary Questions For Jobs For Kuwaitis In Oil Sector

The National Assembly began yesterday's session with the item of parliamentary questions, after Parliament Speaker Marzouq Al-Ghanim opened the session at 9:30 in the morning.

During the discussion of the questions item, the deputies touched on a number of issues, including those related to employment, especially in the oil sector, the mechanism for distributing industrial plots, and government efforts to reduce traffic accidents.

The deputies demanded not to strictly set conditions for appointing Kuwaitis in the oil sector, and affirmed their categorical rejection of appointing expatriates to administrative jobs in government agencies.

The deputies called on Minister of Trade and Industry Khaled Al-Roudhan to clarify the basis for distributing industrial plots and to provide them with the results of a fact-finding committee that was formed in this regard.

And they demanded that the government study new measures to create job opportunities for citizens, as there are hundreds of Kuwaitis awaiting employment.

The deputies emphasized the importance of developing and expanding public transport services within Kuwait due to its great role in reducing accidents and pollution, reducing the cost of road maintenance and reducing the cost of subsidized fuel on the general budget, as there are, according to statistics, 600,000 driving licenses for citizens and 1.6 million licenses for expatriates.

The deputies stressed the need for a mechanism in the Council of Ministers to study proposals for laws submitted by members of the National Assembly, before the competent minister announces his final position on the proposal within the Parliamentary Committee.

They indicated that they had noticed the approval of ministers in parliamentary committees on proposals that contravened the state’s financial policy and had a cost on the public budget. In this regard, they demanded the establishment of an apparatus in the state that studies the proposals and provides the cabinet with an opinion to determine the financial cost before the decision comes with approval or rejection.

Minister of Oil and Minister of Electricity and Water Khaled Al-Fadhel confirmed that the percentage of Kuwaitis working in the oil sector is constantly increasing, and a decision has also been taken recently not to appoint expatriates except in required cases.

In response to a question about the policy of the oil sector in hiring citizens and holding qualification courses for those wishing to work in the sector, the minister indicated that Kuwait Oil Company has an institute to train new entrants.

He added that there is an agreement with the Applied Education Authority to enroll its graduates in well rehabilitation programs.

The details of the deputies' interventions came as follows:

At the beginning, MP Adel Al-Damkhi said that in 2017 he asked the Minister of Oil about appointing citizens to oil companies, whose percentage did not exceed 26% at the time, expressing his regret that nothing has changed since the question was asked and answered, compared to the accumulation of job seekers Petroleum graduates from among Kuwaitis at the present time.

He added that the accumulation of unemployment among oil graduates in an oil-producing country like Kuwait is evidence that the government's answers are ink on paper and its "long buses", and that the priority for Kuwaitis should be.

In turn, Oil Minister Khaled Al-Fadhel replied saying that the intended question was the year 2016, pointing out that the percentage changes annually, and if a member wants to know the contract details, he must submit a question so that we can provide him with them.

He added: The response to the member’s question was followed by the issuance of a decision to stop appointing expatriates to jobs in which there are Kuwaitis, in addition to that we have obligated oil contracts to increase the percentage of citizens, not to mention the signing of agreements with the "applied" requiring the appointment of trainees in oil directly.

As for MP Saleh Ashour, he expressed his surprise at the continuing need to appoint expatriates in specializations such as rights and accountability, despite the availability of Kuwaitis with the same specializations and without work, pointing out that he had asked the Minister of Information about the number of legal employees in his ministry, stressing the need to formulate a policy And a strategy in hiring and reducing dependence on expatriates, even in the regular specializations available among citizens.

More than one deputy spoke about the delay in government responses to their questions or that the response was ambiguous and not detailed, as MP Abdullah Al-Roumi said that he asked a question 3 years ago about the mechanism followed by the Council of Ministers in approving proposals for laws submitted by members, and I was answered with a study on Every suggestion, but this is not true, it is unreasonable for a minister to come and take a decision without a thorough study and carry additional financial burdens to the government, demanding that the decision be issued by the Council of Ministers based on studies, figures and cost estimates, not to be issued individually.

As for MP Khalil Al-Saleh, he called on the government to propose an appropriate mechanism to respond to the questions in a reasonable time, and said that he asked a question in March 2017 and did not receive a response to it, stressing that the government's response to the questions was delayed for years is a flawed matter.

In addition, Representative Osama Al-Shaheen said that the country has recently lacked standards for civilized public transport while we were pioneering, and that is why we are looking forward to generalizing and expanding the mass transit service and unifying his legacy in one ministry, in light of heavy traffic congestion, due to one million and 600 thousand driving licenses For expatriates, compared to 600,000 for Kuwaitis, and the development of mass transit will contribute to reducing overcrowding and accidents.

 

 

 

 

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