6,013 Kuwaitis nominated for public sector jobs this year

KUWAIT: The Ministry of Commerce and Industry (MoCI) recently referred 63 senior employees to retirement, said informed sources, noting that this is the second group of MoCI retirees after the minister previously referred 13 employees to retirement. Further, the sources said a new list of retirees will be announced soon, including a director, heads of sections and supervisors, in implementation of the Cabinet’s decision of referring employees with at least 30 years in service to retirement to help create job opportunities for younger generations.

Meanwhile, Minister of State for Economic Affairs Mariam Al-Aqeel said that the Civil Service Commission (CSC) has nominated 6,013 Kuwaitis for jobs in the public sector this year, adding that the total number of citizens nominated to work for the government since 1999 is 236,085. Responding to a parliamentary inquiry, Aqeel explained that 21,879 citizens were nominated for work last year compared to 20,615 in 2017 and 18,027 in 2016.

New weighing system

In other news, MoCI plans to introduce a new standard weighing system at shops around Kuwait in response to recent complaints about possible misconduct at various outlets. Informed sources said that the ministry is currently considering issuing ‘revolutionary decisions’ concerning weighing solid and liquid consumer goods at various outlets, noting that the new decision is likely to be made within two months by replacing the old manual inaccurate electronic scales with French weighing systems and mandating all outlets to use them by the beginning of 2020.

The French weighing system measures the size of products, said the sources, adding that it will be used with foodstuff, vegetables, meat, dairy products, gold, precious stones, oud and bakhour. The sources said specialized teams will be sent to various gas stations to check the pumps and make sure they use the metric system and have new gauges. In addition, the sources said pints of sale that do not comply with the new decision would graced for a period before subjecting them to strict penal measures.

Moreover, the sources said that in a bid to fight commercial fraud, MoCI inspection team will visit and inspect gold, diamond, precious stone, oud and bakhour outlets that use sensitive scales in response to some complaints that some salesmen point air conditioners to exposed sensitive scales, which places an additional pressure and adds 3-5 percent to the final price. “Sensitive scales must be put inside air-tight glass boxes,” explained the sources.

By A Saleh