Be a volunteer and help ensure World Cup success, Obaidly urges expat communities

HE Mohammed Hassan Al Obaidly

Undersecretary of Labour in the Ministry of Labour HE Mohammed Hassan Al Obaidly has urged various embassies and expatriate community leaders in Qatar to encourage their compatriots to enrol for being a volunteer for 2022 FIFA World Cup to ensure the success of the first edition of the tournament in the Arab region.

Obaidly made the appeal during an interactive meeting with representatives of embassies of labour-exporting countries and community leaders on Sunday.

He said ensuring resounding success of the tournament will be a collective responsibility of everyone in Qatar, both Qataris and expatriate residents. “The 2022 FIFA World Cup in Qatar will need a huge number of volunteers in many sectors to ensure smooth and memorable running of the tournament. We will need to work together and coordinate to address the challenges that might arise during the organization of the mega event,” he said.

To ease the volunteer recruitment process and allow as many people as possible to participate, Obaidly said the ministry would provide a mechanism to enable workers who want to volunteer to stay in the country even after the expiration of their contracts with their current employers by transferring that to another companies to have legal resident status.

He added that the ministry will form a coordinating group with embassies, expatriate communities and other entities to work on the modalities of the process, stressing that authority will provide commensurable incentives and other supports for all volunteers.

Speaking about workers’ welfare, he stressed that community organisations need to work hand-in-hand with the ministry in order to promptly address the workers’ concerns and ensure that they get their dues at the right time.

He implored the embassies’ representatives and community leaders to share information about breach of workers’ welfare such as salary delay and non-provision of food in order to allow the ministry to take appropriate actions, if the condition warrants.

Obaidly also urged the attendees to provide information about workers who have been laid off so that the ministry can assist those who still want to remain in the country, get another job and transfer easily, and help those who want to leave the country exit without stress.

He expressed condolences, on behalf of Qatar, the Ministry of Labour and himself, to the Kenyan embassy and community members on the death of Ambassador Paddy Ahenda.

He described the late envoy as a true friend of Qatar, the Ministry of Labour and workers’ community in general.

He extolled the envoy’s contribution to the strong relations between Qatar and Kenya.

On his part, Assistant to Undersecretary of Labour Dr Mohammed Al Meer said that the ministry would continue its efforts to fix all legal issues of the workers to make sure they live comfortably in the country.

He added that the ministry has eased procedures for workers to transfer from one company to another.

Talking about a recent strike by some workers in Industrial Area, Meer said all stakeholders must work together to prevent reoccurrence of such incident.

He urged leaders to inform the ministry about any violation of workers’ rights.

Director of Inspection Department at the Ministry of Labour Hussain Al Hababi said the ministry has intensified its inspection campaign to labour camps and work sites to get firsthand information about the living and working conditions of the workers.

He said the country has witnessed decline in labour complaints in the recent times, thanks to the ministry’s concerted efforts and cooperation from concerned stakeholders.

He added that the ministry is in the process of reactivating reemployment initiative in collaboration with Qatar Chamber to allow laid off workers get new jobs.

On behalf of Kenya embassy and community in Qatar, Joel N. Nwanzia, minister counsellor for labour at the Embassy of Kenya, thanked the government and people of Qatar for the support given to the embassy during the hospitalisation of the late ambassador after his death.