Mahmoud Ahmad
I recently read a shocking news about corruption in labor recruitment from abroad. The story, in Al-Eqtisadiah Saudi daily, stated that the Saudi Embassy in Vietnam got wind of suspicious activities of some Saudi businessmen with regard to the hiring of domestic help. They noted that a group of Saudi businessmen were gathering domestic help for the price of SR2,000 each, and charging citizens back home a recruitment fee of SR25,000 each, which is an increase by 1150 percent.
What was more shocking is that some of the members of the group were from the national recruitment committee, and their actions constituted a direct fraud. The actions by these members contravene the main job of the national recruitment committee, which is to organize this sector by streamlining the work of recruitment offices and improve the services provided to the nationals.
What triggered the suspicions of the Saudi Embassy in Hanoi was the steep and sudden increase in the hiring price of the domestic help. They noticed the price of recruiting domestic help was soaring. On investigating the matter, they discovered that a group of Saudi businessmen had gathered in an apartment and were charging Saudis SR25,000 per domestic help when the original price is SR2,000. The Saudi ambassador said that the group was sent back home thereby busting the price-gouging racket, such that the recruitment price is expected to return to normal.
This news, however, turned the spotlight on corruption when it comes to recruitment of domestic help from abroad. We know that there is an overwhelming dissatisfaction about this sector as a whole because domestic help prices are already exaggerated, and the case above is a perfect example. It is at times like these that people call for officials to step in and correct the situation, but I am sure that this and similar news would have made them lose hope.
If businessmen can with ease take advantage of the situation and increase prices without any fear of punishment or accountability, it means only one thing that rules and regulations are not being applied, and the businessmen have more clout than the recruitment committee.
We need an immediate explanation from the national recruitment committee about this mess and they also need to reveal the names of the members in the group involved in this scam. This is a big scandal and it should not go unpunished. The Interior Ministry exposes forgers who are involved in criminal activities and their photos and names are published in newspapers. The Ministry of Commerce exposes acts of businessmen so anyone caught cheating or involved in increasing and fixing prices, and they are shamed and named in newspapers.
I wish if officials could name, shame and defame the people involved in this act, especially the members of the national recruitment committee. They should be on the front page of every newspaper if found guilty. This will bring some satisfaction to the people, victims of the businessmen’s greed, and strike fear in the hearts of other corrupt officials.
What drives these businessmen to become so greedy that they act against their own people, take advantage of people's need and jack up the price to more than 1,000 percent? Only they can answer this 1,000 percent question. Their planned increase in prices and manner of dealing seemed as if they were trading in slaves and they were the slave owners. I may even understand the scam if the majority of the money would go into the pocket of the domestic help. But no, not a single riyal will go to his/her pocket, for all will go into the pockets of these fat, greedy sharks.
If a business agreement was reached and a contract signed between the two countries about the cost of recruitment, salaries, legal ramifications and work conditions, then what business is of these people in interfering in the recruitment process. The fact that they practiced price gouging, with the help of some members of the national recruitment committee, for their own benefit by creating an alternative system should be addressed quickly and effectively. Most importantly, the role such members played should be questioned and action instituted immediately to deter others from taking the corrupt route.
I commend the Saudi ambassador in Vietnam for exposing these suspicious activities and for coming forward to expose such corrupt practices by making a statement to the press. Following this expose, we are expecting more reform and transparency from the national recruitment committee in addressing the issues of overpricing in recruitment of domestic help from abroad.
In a related point here, many months ago I had written an article titled "Exploring 'maids' opportunities in other countries" in which I said that most families are so desperate to have a maid in the house that it seems as if life would stop if domestic help were not recruited. Some families consider them as oxygen they cannot live without. I still believe and stress on the fact that families should depend on themselves like the rest of the families around the world and teach their children responsibility from young age. This, of course, does not apply to families with elders and handicapped children that require help from specialized domestic help. This, as long as they are paid on time, good salary and treated justly with days off in a week.
The same way we call for protecting the rights of domestic help against violent and abusive sponsors, is the same way we call for the protection of the rights of Saudi families against corrupt and greedy businessmen and officials.
— The writer can be reached at [email protected]. Twitter: @anajeddawi_eng
