Bahrain Mirror (Exclusive): Perhaps the person who is aware that the economic recovery plan is a bunch of nonsense is the one who wrote it. That's simply because he would know that the same big headlines were part of previous government plans.

A vision, a plan, or a program, are multiple names for the same result: failure, not because those goals are not achievable, but because the political will to implement them is absent, and there are no real projects to reach these goals.

Didn't Bahrain Vision 2030, developed more than 13 years ago, include titles such as "Making Bahrain the best choice in the labor market?" Why didn't this come true and was re-included today in the government's economic recovery plan?

The plan included the same phrase, along with objectives such as employing 20,000 Bahrainis and training 10,000 a year until 2024. A beautiful title that touches the needs of citizens, but the political trends are contrary to this. 

Less than a week after the plan was announced, the Labour Market Regulatory Authority said the Bahrainization of jobs goes against government policy and had already proved unsuccessful because Bahrainis lack the required skills and competence.

What are the skills that foreign accountants, information system or insurance employees, workers in security companies have that are not found in unemployed Bahraini graduates?

The percentage of foreign workers in the private sector is about 85%, while they make up to 14% in the government sector, most of whom work in the Ministry of Education and Health.

How does the government want to provide jobs for Bahrainis if it does not believe in Bahrainization policies and refuses to pass laws guaranteeing Bahrainis' rights to employment? How can they employ graduate teachers and doctors if they do not dispense with foreigners? 

How is the Bahraini citizen the preferred option when the conditions of competition between him and the foreign worker are unequal? The trader wants low-cost employment, and is helped by the government to circumvent the system, which imposes fees on traders when they breech the requirements of Bahrainization.

The Chamber of Commerce is one of those who does not want to give Bahrainis the right to employment, not only in the private sector, but also in the government sector, as it considered it discriminatory to pass a law limiting employment to Bahrainis in government facilities and companies of which the government owns 50%.

How does the plan repeat the phrase "motivating citizens to work in the private sector", as if Bahrainis refuse to work in the sector? These perceptions are one of the reasons why government plans have failed, because they refuse to acknowledge reality. 

The truth is that Bahrainis want to work in all sectors. However, the capital alliance and the government refuse to give citizens the right to employment.

The denial of this fact and the refusal to recognize real unemployment rates are the reasons that prevent the success of government plans from containing unemployment and creating jobs for Bahrainis.

The government's claim that it wants to create 20,000 jobs a year by 2024 with a total of up to 60,000 jobs in the next three years needs political will, labor market reform and legislation to guarantee Bahrainis' right to employment.

Arabic Version