Kuwait plans to replace expats in municipal jobs

Kuwaiti Municipality Minister Walid Al Jasim has directed reducing the numbers of expatriates holding municipal jobs as part of a plan to replace foreign workers with citizens, Kuwaiti newspaper Al Qabas has reported.

After the Eid Al Fitr holiday, the minister will meet senior officials in the ministry to discuss the replacement plan mainly in administrative jobs such as secretariat and registration in different sectors.

The process of terminating the expatriates’ service will get under way after the Eid holiday, the paper said, citing an unnamed well-informed source.

Several Kuwaiti public figures have recently pushed for redrawing the demographic imbalance, accusing expatriates of straining the country’s health facilities and increasing the COVID-19 threat.

Al Jasim added that the replacement of expatriates will be carried out according to several mechanisms, including ending the contracts of some workers and not renewing other job contracts, while reassessing the existing expatriate workers.