Salaries cut directives set to be applied soon

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KUWAIT CITY, July 11: According to informed sources, government directives to reduce the salaries of chairpersons and members of the boards of directors of government bodies and agencies will come into effect soon. These directives were issued after monitoring the performance of many of those bodies that did not achieve the desired level of achievement and performance during the last period, reports Al-Rai daily. They explained that the application of the directives will be within the framework of granting monthly salaries to the boards of directors at the rate of KD 6,000 to the chairman of the authority, KD 5,000 to his deputy, KD 4,000 to a fulltime member, and an annual salary of KD 4,000 only to a part-time member.

This trend includes all institutions and bodies that issue decrees, such as Kuwait Anti-Corruption Authority (Nazaha), the Direct Investment Promotion Authority, the Public Authority for Industry, the Capital Markets Authority, the Public-Private Partnership Authority, and other bodies. There are two scenarios subject to research and study. The first is the possibility of applying soon to the existing boards so that salaries are reduced and packages of allowances, travel and other benefits are limited to specific items and within a very narrow spending range.

As for the second scenario, it pushes towards applying the decision to the new boards of directors that are expected to issue decrees. Such trends will have different dimensions and repercussions, as they will limit the placement of vacancies in many bodies to workers in the public sector. Technical problems may face the application related to the mechanisms of dealing with the second row of leaders of those agencies who receive salaries that will become more than what the chairpersons and members of its boards of directors receive, according to the expected procedures.

The next stage requires flexible mechanisms for implementation through gradual procedures, as the dealings of heads of bodies and their members with people working in the same entity and receiving higher salaries than them will raise a state of reservation. Therefore, it is possible to follow a policy of referring some of them to retirement, ending services, or assigning advisory tasks, in addition to reducing allowances and benefits as acceptable exits. The sources stressed that the idea of compromising on the salaries of employees of the second and third ranks will be faced with legal texts that prevent them from being carried out, at a time when the government is interested in providing a stable business model that will be refl ected in the performance of these bodies to achieve the required achievements.

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