The Ministry of Municipal and Rural Affairs has opposed the move to replace its experienced expatriate workers with newly graduated Saudis, saying it is one of the major obstacles facing the ministry.
In its annual report for 2017, a copy of which was obtained by Makkah Arabic newspaper, the ministry said the appointment of inexperienced Saudis in place of experienced expat workers would weaken the ministry’s performance and the quality of its work.
The ministry also faces a brain drain as many of its experienced Saudi and non-Saudi staff members move to the private sector as a result of huge disparities in salaries and benefits.
The ministry proposed that Saudization of jobs that required experienced workers must be delayed until Saudis are trained by expats to take up such important jobs.
“Saudis and expats are leaving the ministry due to differences in salaries and the workload. Private companies give more than SR5,000 to Saudi engineers in addition to health insurance while the ministry offers low salaries without health insurance,” the report said.
Many of the ministry’s health supervisors have left to the Health Ministry and Saudi Food and Drugs Authority seeking better salaries and benefits.
A senior ministry official refused to delay Saudization of jobs in its various departments and said Saudis can be trained by other employees in the department.
Weak performance of various municipal departments was another major problem. “This resulted in overburdening of the staff, who are required to do jobs beyond their capacity,” the report said, adding that some employees were asked to do jobs that do not come under their specialization.
The ministry also pointed out that it was not getting capable Saudis to hold senior positions including heads of municipalities because of the difficult task and low salaries. Saudi workers also find it hard to join advanced training courses as a result of bureaucratic obstacles.
The report indicated that long procedures to withdraw faltered projects from negligent contractors have discouraged senior municipality officials to initiate withdrawal procedures. This has encouraged contractors to slow down and delay their projects.
Referring to the ministry’s efforts to deal with chronic diseases such as The Rift Valley fever, dengue, and swine flu, the report said the ministry could not handle them properly due to a lack of advanced equipment and facilities and dearth of data and specialized laboratories.
Dr. Ali Al-Zahrani, a member of the Saudi Society for Microbiology and Infectious Diseases, said the ministry should not have mentioned the problems in dealing with infectious diseases because it comes under the purview of three ministries: Municipalities, Health and Agriculture.
“Fighting infectious diseases is a joint responsibility. What we need today is good coordination between the three ministries,” he told Al-Watan Arabic daily, adding that they were successful in combating MERS-CoV by setting up a command and control center and a high-level coordination panel.
He said the ministries of Health and Agriculture have necessary data on infectious diseases that are prevalent in the country. They also have specialized laboratories. “If the three ministries coordinate properly they can combat infectious diseases effectively,” he added.
SOURCE : SAUDIGAZETTE
