MANAMA: Mahmood Rafique, Editor: Leading businessmen on Saturday rejected the proposal to provide commercial registrations (CRs) to Government employees arguing that the step would be impact negatively on output of employees as well creating unfair competition for small businesses.
In interviews to the Bahrain Chamber of Commerce and Industry, the business community leaders say such move would contravene Government service rules of the Civil Service Bureau and poses a serious challenge as being “unfair competition” to Bahraini small business owners.
Businessmen were reacting to the proposal currently being discussed to provide the commercial registration (CR) to Government employees saying that it would hurt the labour market in the Kingdom.
“The proposal will be counterproductive as it will not only be helpful on minimizing CR concealment rather it would badly impact the performance of the Government employees. Business is a full time job and can’t be treated as a leisure,” a number of Bahraini business owners have unanimously agreed.
“The proposal to amend the Civil Service Law in order to grant public sector employees the right to obtain commercial registrations (CRs) and engage in commercial activities would increase the cases of commercial concealment that the official authorities are currently fighting, because public sector employees are not devoted to managing projects,” the interviewees said.
“In addition, this decision will cause the spread of loose labor that has hurt and still causes trouble to business owners in the market, and creates unfair competition with small Bahraini business owners.”
“I agree with the Bahrain Chamber’s opinion of rejecting the proposal for a law to add a new article to the Civil Service Law promulgated by Decree Law No. 48 of 2010, which stipulates allowing a public employee to obtain a commercial registrations. And conducting business, “pointing out that the proposed law will create unequal and unfair competition with small and medium traders in the market, and will produce negative consequences, the consequences of which will be borne by the private sector, especially since the public sector employee receives a lump sum salary,” Ibrahim Muhammad Ali Zainal, a leading businessman and former Director at the BCCI said.
“As for the owners of small and medium enterprises, business is their livelihood. The only one, and he explained that this would open the way for the spread of the phenomenon of renting records, given that the government employee will not be free to manage his commercial registry, which will push him to lease the commercial registeration, at a time when the state is fighting this phenomenon, and as you know the freedom of trade and access the commercial registration must be protected by the state and this facilitated for all citizens,” he said.
Therefore, Zainal continued, the public servant, whenever wants to leave the job and can obtain the CR to enter the private sector full time.
“This proposal is not correct and does not serve the objectives on which this proposal was made, as its disadvantages will be more than its positive ones, as it will cause a conflict of employees’ interests between their government and their private businesses,” Hisham Matar, a businessman said.
“Especially if the transactions are in the same government institution in which this employee works, this will be a clear conflict of interest,” he said.
“This proposal for a law would contradict what is stated in the Civil Service Law of articles prohibiting the conduct of some commercial business for a public employee, which aims to protect his position that he occupies,” Abdul Hamid Hatem, member of the Commercial Markets Committee at the BCCI said.
“The public job is so that the employee is devoted to doing the work of his government job, and limiting breaching the level of performance in the government job, its objectives and mission, and the combination of government and private work will lead to a lack of discipline in government work as the delay and permission will be repeated, and the impact on job opportunities in the private sector for non-employee citizens,” he added.
“This proposal will harm the merchant, who can only find sustenance through trade, and will double the process of renting commercial records commercial concealment, which will harm the local economy, and will exacerbate the spread of free visa etc. The public office must be kept away from any caveats that may affect it and its integrity, and to limit the conflict of interests that leads to the breach of many of the legal situations that may result from the exploitation of the public office protected by the constitution,” he added.
“I think that this proposal does not agree with the general principle, and I think that instead of allowing the public employee to extract a commercial register to increase his income, the concerned party should be the one who develops, trains and qualifies the employee to a better level and increases his salary and be comfortable In his work instead of going to look for another source of income,” Kazem Al-Saeed, a leading businessman, said.
“If the employee is allowed today is allowed to get CR, especially in sensitive occupations, he will reduce his productivity in the primary job, and such situations are predominantly commercial activity concealment.”
Al-Saeed pointed out that the consequences will not be small, because there are foreigners working in government agencies, and such a decision will include them, and its results will increase the cases of commercial concealment, and it will cost the state infrastructure and many expenses that burden the state budget.
He stated that this project will constitute a great harm to the economy, and will directly affect the owners of small and micro businesses, and it is better not to proceed in this aspect, and for the matter to be subject to further study.
