Consultants to lose jobs

KUWAIT: The Cabinet has asked all ministries to rationalize spending on consultant positions. Consultants are paid according to a reward system or based on individual projects and there are currently more than 5,700 such consultants working for Kuwait government departments and ministries. An official source quoted but unnamed by Al-Anbaa said that all ministries will be informed and payments for those employees will be stopped before the end of the current fiscal year, and they will be informed during January about the last salary they will receive, and they will be given a chance to find another job.

The source said the termination of those people will be immediate and does not need anything because there are no contracts with the ministries, and they do not enjoy an annual leave, and if they take one, it will be unpaid. The source said most ministries who have such jobs are Awqaf, Education, Social Affairs, Health and the Municipality.

The source said the next move will include those on contracts in ministries in order to ‘Kuwaitize’ those jobs, especially the administrative ones, bearing in mind that there is a long line of Kuwaitis who are looking for jobs at the civil service commission, waiting for the implementation of the replacement policy. He said some jobs will be excluded from this policy including doctors, teachers and nurses.