By B Izzak

KUWAIT: MP Saleh Al-Mutairi yesterday targeted the Public Authority of Manpower and its chairman with a series of questions about regulations and properties owned by its senior employees. In his questions addressed to Commerce and Industry Minister Abdullah Al-Salman, who oversees the authority, Mutairi asked if the minister has recommended to the Cabinet to renew the tenure of the authority director for a fresh term, although he has already spent 38 years in a government job.

Mutairi asked if the reported renewal recommendation is in line with existing laws. The lawmaker asked the minister to furnish him with a list of companies, establishments, farms and factories owned by employees and senior officials of the authority and their close relatives. He also asked for a list including the names of companies whose labor recruitment files have been suspended and companies whose suspension had been lifted by orders signed by the director of the authority between 2014 and 2020. MP Mutairi said these questions will explain the problems in the population structure, heavily tilted in favor of expats, and will shed light on the "forces of corruption" blocking the solution to this problem.

On Wednesday, PAM decided to allow the transfer of workers from six sectors - industry, farming, shepherding, fishing, co-ops and free trade zones - to other jobs in the private sector. Aseel Al-Mazyad, Official Spokesperson and PR and Media Director at PAM, said the authority has made things easier for business owners and employees amid the coronavirus pandemic, especially during the suspension of air travel, as it issued several decisions allowing the transfer of workers from sectors that were previously banned. The ban had been lifted on March 3 to allow local firms to hire labor from inside Kuwait while outside recruitment remains closed. The ban was then reinstated on July 15, before being lifted again on Wednesday.