KUWAIT: Oil Minister Hani Husain finds himself in a hot spot as recent staff promotions in the oil sector have triggered allegations of certain employees receiving unfair advantage over other more deserving candidates. While the minister formed a committee to probe potential misconduct, several lawmakers have threatened to "use constitutional tools" to address the "injustice" which they believed was meted to the employees. "The issue is expected to become a hot topic of discussion that threatens the relationship between parliament and cabinet," MP Dr. Ali Al- Omair said yesterday, quoting information which he said "confirms the need for efforts to put things back on to the right track." "There is evidence that justice and equality were not taken as a basis for the recent staff promotions announced at the Kuwait Petroleum Corporation," he said in a statement to the press.
According to a report published yesterday by Al-Qabas, the dispute was sparked following a meeting between MP Essam Al-Dabous and Managing Director of the KPC Sami Al-Rushaid pertaining to "complaints" that Al-Dabous received personally from those KPC employees "who were excluded from the recent promotions." Sources quoted anonymously in the same report also spoke about a potential probe committee to be established in the parliament, which is one option discussed by a group of MPs as a way to deal with the matter.
Some of the strongest words in the parliament came from MP Saleh Ashour who, in a statement, demanded that all recent promotions be retracted. MP Khalid Al- Shatty announced plans to "utilize all parliamentary tools", including filing a grilling motion, in order to address the injustice felt by the complaining employees. Minister Husain spoke about the subject in exclusive statements to Al-Jarida, defending the staff-related decisions made last Thursday at the Kuwait Oil Company as being "based on professional and scientific basis as well as employees' evaluation reports". He added that the decision to form a probe committee to study the allegations was meant to "ensure transparency", but refuted at the same time allegations that discrimination on the basis of political and social categories was involved in the promotions.
© Kuwait Times 2012
