Kuwait’s Ministry of Electricity lets go of 454 expat employees

Dubai: As many as 454 expat employees at the Kuwaiti Ministry of Electricity have been terminated and will be replaced by Kuwaiti cadres soon, local media reported.

The termination comes as part of the country’s wider plans to replace foreign workers with citizens in the public sector.

Dr Mohammad Al Faris, Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Oil, Electricity, Water and Renewable Energy, revealed 454 expat employees had been terminated from the Ministry of Electricity and they will be replaced by Kuwaitis, Al Seyassah newspaper reported.

Al Seyassah said it obtained a copy of the minister’s response to the question of MP Faraz Al Daihani, in which he affirmed that the ministry strictly complies with the circulars it receives annually from the Civil Service Commission (CSC) related to the application of the Kuwaitisation policy in the short and long terms.

According to media reports, the Kuwait government plans to fully Kuwaitise government jobs in 2022, and foreigners working in the IT, information, development, public relations, admin and statistics, admin support, arts and marine sectors will lose their jobs over the next four years. The government ordered last year the departments concerned to list the names and positions of foreign employees who will be let go.

Kuwatisation has been in the news for several years now and has been dominated by calls from lawmakers urging the reduction of the high number of foreign workers in the country, at present making up some 70 per cent of the Kuwait's total population.