BY MOHAMMAD SHOEB
DOHA: Some businessmen say one needs influence (Wasta) even with the recruitment committee of the labour ministry to recruit workers from desired nationalities, or the committee would impose on you workers from nationalities of their choice.
“If you can’t pull the right strings with the committee, forget about getting workers from the nationality or nationalities of your choice,” a businessman said.
It is the recruitment committee at the Ministry of Labour and Social Affairs that decides the source country for hiring manpower, instead of a company taking that decision, local Arabic daily Al Raya reported on Monday.
Company owners rue that the committee, instead of giving approval for visas for workers from specific countries, imposes on you workers from some other countries.
This forces companies to hire under-qualified manpower at the cost of their efficiency, performance and profitability.
“Getting required number of visas for specific nationalities has become a big problem. If you request for Indians, Egyptians, Pakistanis, Bangladeshis, Syrians or Jordanians, they give approval for Myanmar, Nepal, Cambodia, Indonesia, Mauritania, Kenya and other countries,” Mahmoud Younes, Chairman of Qatari Engineering Business Company told this daily yesterday.
Younes, whose company is involved in several government projects, including the maintenance of over 300 mosques, added: “It is not only difficult to find appropriate manpower (as per instructions from Awqaf) from these countries, such as Myanmar, Nepal, Cambodia; even communicating with these nationalities is also a big problem as they are usually not familiar with English language.”
He said that several times he tried to convince the recruitment committee, but they rarely listen to the problems and concerns of employers even for a minute.
“Many impractical conditions and procedures are being imposed by the committee which are very difficult to be followed by companies. The meeting with the committee is also very brief that lasts only a few minutes which is not sufficient to explain the practical problems faced by the employers,” Saad Al Shammari was quoted by the Arabic daily as saying.
Al Shammari said a businessman knows well why he wants to source workforce from a specific country for his company, but one does not a chance to explain to the committee about the pros and cons of hiring a worker from a specific country.
He further said: “For instance, if you seek to hire manpower from the Philippines, they give approval for Tunisia or Morocco. Approval for hiring manpower from the desired countries is given only to those who have personal influence.”
Another businessman, Abdurrahman Khalifa, rued: “My recent meeting with the committee lasted for a few minutes in which I only got to listen to the members of the committee, but did not get the chance to narrate my problems.”
Khalifa, who owns a construction and interior decoration company, recalled that it was not the first time he attended the meeting to change the nationalities of approved manpower. He added that most of the companies are facing such problems.
“The recruitment committee at the ministry specified and gave visa approval for different nationalities instead of the one sought for. And if you ask for five visas, they give approval for only two.”
He also urged the authorities concerned to review the visa approval policies as the existing practice is affecting the efficiency, competitiveness and sustainability of businesses.
The Peninsula
