Process of changing face

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An English idiomatic proverb says: “You can’t have your cake and eat it.” This is the case with us, as conservative Gulf States we very much wish to become part of the financial and economic world, at least, but at the same time we would like to keep all our traditions and customs without change.

In the banks and institutions of the sixties and seventies of the last century, our connection with the outside world, especially the treasury and investment departments, was cut off from Europe and America on Thursdays and Fridays, in addition to being cut off from the whole world on Saturday and Sunday.

Then came the decision of the Civil Service Commission and amended the weekly holiday from Thursday and Friday to Friday and Saturday, reducing the real disconnection from the financial world by 50%, and the situation remained the same for nearly forty years and has not changed until today.

Yesterday, some Gulf countries announced a set of courageous decisions that will be implemented as of the beginning of 2022, the most important of which is the amendment of the weekly holiday to become, like the rest of the world, Saturday and Sunday, and Friday will be half a working day so that it ends at 12:30 so that worshipers can pray, after that the Friday sermon and prayer were fixed and unified at 13:30 in the afternoon.

By simple calculation, we find that the number of employee working hours in Kuwait is currently 32 hours (from 8 in the morning until 2:30 in the afternoon for five days). The number of employee working hours for four and a half days per week will be as follows:

From Sunday to Thursday from 08:00 to 15:00, and from 08:00 to 12:30 on Fridays, that is, more than 32 hours.

Therefore, it is necessary to reconsider the working hours in government departments in Kuwait, and make them longer “comfortable” and more “productive” at the same time. Perhaps it is better, as suggested by our colleague and Captain Sami Al-Nisf, to change working hours to become from 09:00 to 16:00 and this will allow everyone the opportunity to be at their workplaces, especially those who have to transport their children to schools, or residents of areas far from their workplaces.

It can also be extended by half an hour to have a quick lunch in the middle of the working day.

We wish the honorable Sister Maryam Al-Aqeel, President of the Civil Service Commission, to consider the extent to which these proposals can be implemented, and to change Kuwait’s practical face for the better.

Note that there is no legal, religious or moral text that prohibits working on Friday.

Also, there is no text that prohibits delaying or bringing forward the date of the Friday sermon or prayer, especially if the public interest so requires.

e-mail: [email protected]

By Ahmad alsarraf

This news has been read 17040 times!