Chairman of the Domestic Workers Recruitment Bureaus Khaled Al-Dakhnan requested the Department for Recruiting Domestic Workers under the Public Authority for Manpower (PAM) to liquidate 50 percent of the financial guarantees for licensing the bureaus, which are with the authority, then to return the sum to the recruitment bureaus to help them keep afloat in the midst of sustained losses due to the coronavirus crisis, reports Al-Jarida daily
In a statement to the daily, Al-Dakhnan affirmed the financial guarantee is set at a value of KD 40,000, deposited in a local bank according to a Ministerial Resolution on the rules and procedures for implementing the provisions of Law (68/2015) related to domestic workers.
“Due to the complete paralysis of the recruitment of domestic workers, which has lasted more than 7 months since the beginning of the pandemic, we appeal to the Manpower Public Authority to liquidate KD 20,000 of the amount, provided that the bureau will be obliged to return the amount again within a specific agreed period,” he said.
Highlighting the impact of the coronavirus on recruitment bureaus in the country, he added, “Recruitment bureaus are among the sectors directly affected by the repercussions of the current crisis, exposing them to huge losses, and we suggest that half of the financial guarantees be liquidated to confront this exceptional situation, provided that it’s returned within six months.”
Speaking on the repercussions of the Directorate General of Civil Aviation’s decision to ban flights coming to and from 31 countries, including India, the Philippines, Sri Lanka and Nepal- as per the instructions of the health authorities, Al- Dokhnan said, “Those directly affected by the decision are citizens, and not bureaus, especially as all of them are waiting for their workers to return after being stuck for months in their countries of origin, with the launch of partial operation of flights by 30 percent earlier this month.”
Al-Dokhnan reiterated his appeal to concerned authorities to resume the issuance of visas for domestic workers as the labor market is suffering from severe shortage after the recruitment of new workers was suspended for nearly seven months, and most of the existing workers in the country have completed their work contracts and want to return to their home countries.