Kuwait to replace expat security guards with technology

Cairo: Kuwait plans to expand the use of high-technology in boosting security and partly to reduce employment of expatriate guards as the country is seeking to redress its demographic imbalance.

Kuwaiti Minister of Social Affairs and the State Minister for Economic Affairs Mariam Al Aqeel said her ministry has launched a new tender for technology utilisation to reduce the numbers of security guards by 25 per cent.

The step comes in compliance with the Council of Ministers’ directives to modify the country’s population make-up and decrease the numbers of expatriates, she was quoted by Al Qabas newspaper as saying.

“The number of employees in the security and guard company over the past five years has reached 865,” the minister added. “Reducing manpower’s number is linked to the ministry’s needs. The ministry has the right, under the contracting terms, to reduce their number as public interests dictate without going back to the company,” she said.

Foreigners account for nearly 3.4 million of Kuwait’s 4.8 million population.

There have been increasing calls in Kuwait over recent months to redress the demographic imbalance, prompting several government bodies to disclose plans to minimise numbers of their expatriate employees.