Bahrain Mirror (Exclusive): Crown Prince Salman bin Hamad Al Khalifa ordered on Monday (July 1, 2019) investigating a letter signed by a number of employees against the Minister of Industry, Commerce and Tourism Zayed Al-Zayani.

A group of employees at the Tourism Authority addressed the Crown Prince's Office Director First Deputy Prime Minister, Fahd bin Abdulrahman Al Khalifa, complaining about the violations of Minister Al-Zayani as chairman of the Authority's board.

In a letter dated May 20, 2019, the employees said that the Minister was late in adopting the budget of the Authority, which led to the freezing of projects and impacting the planned timeline. The staff also accused the Minister of floundering.

They noted that the Minister canceled four of the 7 events that were included on the 2019 annual calendar. The employees also mentioned a number of decisions that are difficult to implement, including the merging of commercial activities.

The employees further accused Minister Al-Zayani of briefing entities outside the board, such as Gulf Air, on board of directors decisions.

The complaints were not limited to the administrative side only, as the staff confirmed that they were insulted and ridiculed by the minister. "Threatening with dismissal and humiliating members of the team has repeatedly become one of the destructive factors," the letter added.

Although the head of the Crown Prince's Office received the letter more than a month ago, he did not investigate the letter or interview the executive administration members of the Tourism Authority.

On the contrary, the Crown Prince issued an order to set up a commission of inquiry headed by Interior Minister Rashid bin Abdullah Al Khalifa to "investigate what has been circulated and published about a letter signed by a group of employees in a government agency."

According to the statement published by Bahrain News Agency, the Crown Prince "directed the commission to investigate whoever intended to insult and defame as well as any administrative violations by not complying with the regulations and provisions of the law."

It appears, from the statement and the selection of the Minister of Interior to chair the commission, that the Crown Prince is not interested in looking into the complaints made by the employees in the letter addressed to his office director as much as he is interested in investigating the employees themselves.

The Crown Prince wants to only check whether the complainants intended to offend one of his friends, but it does not matter to him if this friend of his, Al-Zayani, actually insulted the staff, underestimated their abilities and ridiculed any project they proposed.

This is not strange when it comes to the decisions of the members of the ruling family. King Hamad bin Isa Al Khalifa dismissed the head of the Jaafaria Endowments (Waqf) Mohsen Al-Asfour for writing an address complaining about the violations of Justice Minister Khalid bin Ali Al Khalifa against the Shiite Waqf.

The ruling family won't hold accountable its corrupt members who commit violations, and whoever wishes otherwise will have to expect investigation committees headed by the Minister of Interior at best or dismissal from work or imprisonment at worst.

Part of letter submitted to Director of Crown Prince's Office

Arabic Version