KUWAIT: Ministry of Social Affairs and Labor (MOSAL) recently urged the Civil Services Commission (CSC) to exempt it from Kuwaitizing staff members at the social care sector due to the lack of citizens wanting to work in service-related jobs as they prefer administrative ones, said informed sources. The sources added that the ministry had been encouraging Kuwaitis to join the sector in order to work in geriatric homes, which requires taking care of children of unknown parents and senior citizens. "Kuwaiti staff members are not enough and hiring non-Kuwaitis is a must", stressed the sources pointing that MOSAL is so keen on Kuwaitizing its employees and that it is expected to achieve up to 100 per cent Kuwaiti staffs within a few years.

Flight service fees
The ministry of Services is currently reconsidering a decision that had been frozen by MOCI, Khaled Al-Roudhan to add KD 8 as services fees on each ticket for flights departing Kuwait, said informed sources. The sources added that the new fee was due by the beginning of last April; the beginning of the new fiscal year, but minister Al-Roudhan yielded to parliamentary pressure where lawmakers rejected the idea of overburdening citizens and suggested improving the services instead.
The sources added that, in view of passenger traffic through Kuwait airport where 7.38 million flight tickets were sold in 2018, the new fee would annually add around KD 60 million. "The suspension deprived the state treasury from this sum", added the sources noting that most countries, including GCC and Arab ones, do collect them as taxes in return for the services provided for passengers and airlines. Furthermore, the sources said that the civil aviation general directorate has been demanding the new fee and that minister Al-Roudhan had only suspended its implementation pending further studies. "The new fee will most likely take effect next April with the beginning of the 2020-2021 fiscal year", the sources stressed.

By A Saleh