By A Saleh

KUWAIT: The Civil Service Commission expressed displeasure with several government bodies and accused them of hindering plans to Kuwaitize ministries and authorities. "Appointing residents on rewards or special contracts systems in notable numbers is a circumvention of the state decision to implement the replacement policy and plans to correct the population structure," CSC said.

Instructions by CSC to concerned authorities indicated that many government bodies suffer from overemployment due to the presence of expats on the rewards system, while their jobs can be carried out by Kuwaiti employees, especially since the majority of the jobs on the rewards system are administrative and do not require special skills or rare degrees. "It is proven that the appointment of residents benefits them at the expense of state funds, with the inability of administrations to distribute work duties and control employees so they perform their jobs without laxity," it added.

"Government bodies are required to dismiss expat workers on the reward system just like their colleagues who work according to employment grades, especially as the time for completing the Kuwaitization of the government sector is here and supposed to be at 100 percent," the CSC said. It said the appointments do not include service jobs such as office boys and janitors because of a lack of Kuwaiti candidates for such jobs.

Arab meeting

As Algeria is preparing for the Arab Summit to be held in November, and wishes to invite Syria to participate after more than 10 years of absence, high-ranking sources said GCC countries will discuss this issue during the meeting of their foreign ministers to agree on a unified stand on how to participate, especially since some GCC countries are not ready to accept the return of the Syrian regime to Arab meetings despite the change in events and the resumption of relations between Syria and UAE and Oman.

Sources said Kuwait does not mind attending the summit at a high level, adding the Gulf discussions do not commit countries to participate at a certain level. "Saudi Arabia does think it is necessary for Syria to participate, though it is a sovereign matter for the summit host, especially since the meeting of the ministerial council of the Arab League did not decide whether Syria participates or not, so it is not expected for the Saudi presence to be at a high level and thought to be at the level of foreign minister," sources said. Arab foreign ministries decided earlier to hold the Arab Summit on Nov 1-2, which coincides with the 68th anniversary of the launch of the liberation revolution against French colonialism in 1954.