15 government agencies achieve 100% Bahrainisation

TDT | Manama       

The Daily Tribune – www.newsofbahrain.com

Figures attached to memoranda from the executive body of the Council of Representatives indicated that 15 government agencies succeeded in reaching 100% Bahrainization.

No foreigners are employed by those agencies, reflecting the official interest in Bahrainizing jobs in the public government sector.

According to the memos, which our sister newspaper Al Ayam obtained copies of, statistics confirmed that more than half of government ministries (9 out of 17 ministries) were devoid of foreigners, namely the ministries of Parliamentary Affairs, Labour, Industry and Commerce, Electricity and Water Affairs, Housing and Urban Planning, Sustainable Development, Legal Affairs, Tourism, and Youth Affairs.

Other bodies devoid of foreign employees are the Capital Municipal Council, Muharraq Municipal Council, Northern Governorate Municipal Council, Southern Governorate Municipal Council, Real Estate Regulatory Authority, and Bahrain Tourism and Exhibition Authority.

For its part, the Civil Service Bureau (CSB) confirmed that non-Bahrainis are only employed in government agencies after ensuring the lack of Bahraini candidates to fill those positions. The Bureau reported that there are clear trends and plans among government agencies to increase the rates of Bahrainization within a period of three to five years.

Vacant positions

Regarding recruitment mechanisms, CSB stated that government agencies notify the bureau of wanted positions in their organisational structure, which the bureau announces in its vacancies system.

The electronic employment application system is resorted to after ensuring the lack of qualified candidates within the vacancy advertisement. It added, “Hence, an internal advertisement for job vacancies is used if qualified candidates are not obtained within the database available to the Bureau, and all of this is done by the Civil Service Instructions issued by Decision No. (3) of 2014.”

In its memorandum to the Council of Representatives, the Bureau indicated that no employment contract is approved that does not include a clause about training a Bahraini employee among the duties required of non-Bahraini employees. The text stipulates the following: “Training Bahraini employees on the job is an integral part of employee duties and responsibilities.”