JEDDAH, 30 November 2006 — The Labor Office in Jeddah has shut its door to Saudis who want to inform the authorities about foreign workers who have absconded in what seems to be a messy bureaucratic confusion between the Labor Office and the Passport Department.
A great deal of confusion has been caused especially since the Interior Ministry says that issues relating to absconding workers should be handed by the Labor Office and not the Passport Department, reported Al-Madinah newspaper.
People who have approached the Labor Office have been told that discussions were on between the two government agencies to deal with cases of absconding workers.
Ghazi Al-Baradi’s maid went missing two weeks ago. “I went to the Passport Department to inform them about my maid. They told me it was now the responsibility of the Labor Office,” he said.
However, Al-Baradi says that when he went to the Labor Office the officials there would not cooperate and said that they were not yet in charge of dealing with such cases. “An employee said that he knows nothing about the transfer of duties, while the manager of the office said that the issue was still under discussion.”
Al-Baradi said: “We fear that absent-without-leave-workers would fall into crime and then we would be legally responsible for not informing the authorities about their absence. We are trying hard to inform the authorities but unfortunately they don’t want to know.”
Many people are calling on the authorities to find a quick solution to the problem. Even if this means assigning a single employee to write down the names of illegal workers in order to protect citizens from potential legal problems.
Abdul Majeed Hamad Al-Silmi says that the authorities should quickly interfere and find a solution to the problem. “This decision for the Labor Office to deal with this issue is effective, but there is a delay in the implementation. This has led to serious confusion. They should follow certain techniques by which they can document all the names of fleeing workers until they can implement the system fully,” said Al-Silmi.
Gusay Al-Filani of the Labor Office in Makkah region said his office cannot accept or register any names until all details are finalized with the Passport Department. When asked who should citizens consult until these discussions were finalized, Al-Filani said a meeting would be held soon and solutions will be found for all problems.
