Bahrain Mirror (Exclusive): Another incident reveals that the safes are unguarded in Bahrain, and that naturalized people continue to abuse public funds, while there are no signs that any party in the ruling family is willing to put an end to the naturalization issue.

An employee in the Ministry of Works, Municipal Affairs and Urban Planning was granted citizenship in 2014 but did not notify the Civil Service Bureau, and continued to receive foreign privileges including allowances and financial compensation.

The employee received the allowances and benefits of foreigners for a period of 5 years, before being reported by municipal officials. MP Khaled Bou Onk said he had informed the head of the Civil Service Bureau about the incident.

In such cases, the Civil Service Bureau must refer him to the Public Prosecution Office on charges of breach of trust; however, neither has the Bureau yet announced any official action taken on this matter, nor has the prosecution.

Bahrain Mirror revealed that Libyan professor at the University of Bahrain, Salem Abdulrahman Ghameed, enjoys foreigners' privileges, despite his naturalization. Ghameed received foreign allowances in addition to the services Bahrainis are entitled to.

Ghameed and other foreign instructors also received privileges and promotions at the National University despite receiving low evaluation by the students, which is one of the evaluation tools the university adopts.

These facts indicate that promotion competency is not adopted in educational institutions, as naturalized persons are promoted within the framework of a project aimed at enabling them. Despite the presence of competent Bahrainis, the Ministry of Education is full of naturalized persons and foreigners.

In its response to a parliamentary inquiry into the Bahrainization of jobs, the Ministry stated that all principals and assistant principals in schools hold Bahraini citizenships, which means that all Arab nationals holding these positions were naturalized before they were promoted.

Over the past few years, the Ministry has doubled the employment of naturalized people to head school administrations. Although competent Bahraini citizens are found in schools, promotions do not reflect this.

English teachers and other teachers who teach secondary subjects and who received low evaluation from students have now become school principals, assistant principals and teachers, just because they are naturalized citizens.

It is not unlikely that they will receive the privileges of foreign teachers and the services of Bahrainis, as MP Bou Onk believes that such cases reveal a lack of coordination and automatic communication between official state bodies.

In fact, public money does not seem to matter much to officials when it comes to naturalized persons. The University of Bahrain corrected the situation of a Sudanese naturalized woman who has obtained undue financial privileges without being referred to the Public Prosecution's Office.

The Sudanese Amal Abdulwakil was promoted from assistant professor to associate professor, with the help of other naturalized persons, without conducting any scientific research to qualify her, according to academic standards. This was discovered after years of promotion, but no one demanded her to return the money she had received over the years.

Naturalized citizens have wasted the country's finances without being held accountable by the state. It seems that no one will hold the official who works at the works ministry accountable or the employees in the education ministry, as long as the naturalization project is sponsored by the royal family. 

Arabic Version