‘Al-Durra’ seeking to cut recruitment costs of Filipino domestics by 50 pct

Bid to naturalize

KUWAIT CITY, June 20: Al-Durra Company for Recruitment of Domestic Labor has completed the necessary studies and procedures to launch operations.

According to informed sources, the company is working on reducing the costs for recruitment of domestic workers from the Philippines by about 50 percent, as it currently costs about KD 1,200. The company studied the relevant processes and decided to first select the Philippines for recruitment of domestic labor because the process is relatively easier. However, the company intends to later work on recruiting domestic labor from several other countries including Sri Lanka, Nepal, and possibly India, if the negotiations with the Indian authorities succeed.

They affirmed that the company will initially focus on recruitment from East-Asian countries, followed by some African countries later, indicating that representatives of the company are present in these countries.

The sources said recruitment of female domestic workers will be the priority of the company in the beginning to take up housemaid jobs, followed by recruitment of male domestic workers to meet the needs for cooks, drivers and other such positions.

They said six spaces within cooperative societies have been allocated to the company, in coordination with the Consumer Cooperative-Societies Union, so that there is one office of the company in each governorate.

While the law on naturalization, which has been listed in the agenda of the current parliamentary term, has become prone to legislation fall amid difficulty in endorsing and enforcing it this year due to time shortage, Head of parliament’s Interior and Defense Committee MP Askar AlEnezi has restored hope in endorsing a batch of individuals who deserve naturalization this year through issuance of necessary decree, reports Al-Rai daily.

In a press statement, MP Al-Enezi announced there are high-level promises being made, which affirm the possibility of the issuance of necessary naturalization decree, especially with the government-parliament agreement on naturalization of the deserving individuals.

Highlighting the seriousness of the Deputy Prime Minister and the Minister of Interior Sheikh Khaled Al-Jarrah in this matter, MP Al-Enezi said the minister, in several meetings, expressed his keen interest in fair settlement of those who deserve naturalization.

He affirmed the importance of issuing necessary decrees for naturalizing the deserving ones, especially since the wheel of naturalization came to a stop many years ago amid lack of governmental commitment in enforcing the laws, which have been passed by the parliament in the past.

Agenda

The parliament’s Interior and Defense Committee last April passed a law which enabled the government to naturalize between 2,000 and 4,000 people and to refer the list to the parliament. The law continued to be part of the parliament’s agenda as it was not endorsed in the past parliamentary sessions.

This delay has put the parliament in an embarrassing position, considering that the law is linked to limited time of this year. Therefore, it is difficult to endorse it in the next parliamentary session, which will commence in October. Its seating will start in November, which means the year will end without endorsement of the law, or even the possibility of endorsing it without giving the government the opportunity to implement it.

In the same context, Chairperson of parliament’s Priorities Committee MP Thamer Al-Zufairi said there are MPs who want to cast the blame for the parliament’s lack of legislation on his committee.

He clarified that no concerned committee has sent any letter concerning the naturalization bill to inform that it has completed its report. Therefore, the issue should be listed as a priority in the parliament’s agenda.