Don’t lose a ‘clean’ person

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Mr. Abdullah Al-Salman, Minister of Commerce and Industry, is a former academic who became a minister and turned into a classic politician, and thus seeks to satisfy several parties by his decisions and this may be his right to preserve his position, however it is also our right as citizens to hold him accountable and criticize his decisions especially if they include abuse of others.

Years ago, by chance, I met Mr. Ahmad Mohammad Al-Mousa, Director General of the Public Authority of Manpower (PAM) and the link was my previous acquaintance and work at the Gulf Bank with his late brother Jassim Al-Mousa.

The relationship was further strengthened when we, in the Human Friendship Society, provided various forms of support to the shelter center for ‘girls’ working in homes who were forced by circumstances and disputes to leave their workplaces and seek refuge in the shelter which is affiliated to the Authority.

This authority has previously issued a decision to terminate the residence of anyone who does not hold a university degree and is or over sixty years of age. The decision affected the lives of nearly 80,000 families and this prompted some influential parties to demand the cancellation or amendment of the decision because there are several valid reasons pushing to this direction.

The Authority responded to the pressure, and its board of directors amended the decision replacing the termination of residence in return for paying 2,000 dinars annually.

The amendment did not receive a great response and it was reserved by the Minister of Commerce, Chairman of the Board of Directors of PAM, and kept in his office for a long time before deciding to form a committee to consider its amendment. The committee reached several proposals, all of which were referred to the Council of Ministers to take a decision on one of them.

It seems that the minister turned the administrative and organizational dispute between him and the director general of the authority into a personal one especially after the director general rejected some of his requests for appointment and promotion as I received this piece of news from my sources.

The minister took a hasty move in violation of the law as he withdrew a number of the most important powers of the director general of the Authority and transferred some of them to himself.

Therefore, what was issued by the Minister is considered unjustified, and the powers will be returned sooner or later to the Director General. This is normal, and the Minister knows this well, and therefore there was no need to create all this confusion and violation of the law and regulations just because there was a personal dispute, according to my understanding of the decision.

In light of what I heard about Ahmad Al-Mousa’s performance and what I personally touched of his clean hand and efficiency although he refused my requests more than once, he is one of the finest senior state officials and therefore it is not permissible to push him against the wall and perhaps force him to resign in order to preserve his dignity. The Public Authority for Manpower is an entity responsible for which any official can spread complete corruption in the country, sabotage the entire demographic structure and achieve tens of millions of dinars for himself.

When a competent and clean person handles it, he must be preserved.

e-mail: [email protected]

By Ahmad alsarraf

This news has been read 27128 times!