Okaz/Saudi Gazette THE Ministry of Labor has recently announced new requirements for the Hafiz Program beneficiaries to comply with in order to continue to be eligible for the compensation of SR2,000. This program began paying the monthly stipends to unemployed Saudis late last year. As far as I know, this is the first time in history that a jobless person is told that he faces the risk of deduction from his aid because he was not a “good” jobless person. Months are going by so fast and we will soon be at the end of the first year of the Hafiz Program. However, we still do not know what will happen to the program next year. Will it continue and take in new jobless persons on board? Is it a temporary program which will be stopped at the end of this year? What will happen to the unemployed who will be ineligible for aid by the end of this year? Has the Ministry of Labor provided them with real job opportunities? Or will they get back to square one and spend sleepless nights reminiscing about Hafiz days? The ministry says the program is the last chance for the unemployed. I counter by saying that the program is the last chance for the ministry to create job opportunities for the unemployed. The ministry has had a full year during which it could have developed new plans and obtained new statistics about the unemployed all over the Kingdom. It has to reconsider its plans and tell us what is to happen with 700,000 unemployed persons. Will it cut off the aid at the end of this year? Is the ministry akin to an accountant who after having received a certain amount of money and distributed it to beneficiaries claims that his job is done? In a nutshell, the ministry has to address a number of conundrums before the end of this year. The first riddle has to do with finding a solution to the problem of minimum wage. One thing does not make sense to me is how can the unemployment aid be SR2,000 and the minimum wage less than this amount? The second riddle has to do with the fact that the ministry always puts out job opportunities that are unacceptable to the overwhelming majority of citizens for social reasons. Who is going to work in a mortuary or as a domestic servant? It's as if the ministry is challenging the unemployed, “Take it or leave it”. The third riddle is the extraordinary effort with which the ministry has demonstrated to stop the Hafiz program to beneficiaries next year who will be less than those of the preceding one. Furthermore, with the experience on hand, it will cost less for the ministry to administer the program. The fourth riddle is the ministry is laying down peculiar conditions. For example, if the beneficiary travels outside, his aid will be cut off immediately. How come? What if the beneficiary has compelling reasons that make him go abroad? Does it mean that such reasons won't be taken into consideration by the ministry? Finally, remember the scenes of thousands of unemployed waiting outside banks at the end of each month to get their Hafiz aid? Imagine the anger and frustration they would feel when the aid is cut off. It is going to be a nightmare, with plenty of miserable people. All indicators are that the Ministry will tell 700,000 unemployed that it has carried out its duties and done its best and wishes all beneficiaries' good luck in their future endeavors. Either the ministry continues providing the unemployed with aid or refers them to the Ministry of Health and asks the latter to launch a program in its mental health hospitals to treat thousands of beneficiaries who will suffer from post-Hafiz syndrome after their aid is cut off. __
