Saudi popular campaign demands dismissal of a minister close to Mohammed bin Salman
A new popular campaign has risen in Saudi Arabia to demand the dismissal of a minister close to Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, in the latest expression of widespread anger at the government’s performance and its ministers.
The campaign called for the dismissal of the Minister of Labor and Human Resources in Saudi Arabia, Ahmed Al-Rajhi, due to his failure to preserve the rights of citizens to employment and the domination of foreigners over the private sector and control over jobs.
The hashtag #DismissalOfAl-Rajhi became a trend in Saudi Arabia amid a consensus condemning the failure of the government’s economic performance and its inability to eliminate record unemployment rates in the Kingdom.
Saudis described Al-Rajhi as a “loser” and demanded his departure in light of his failure to address the issue of Saudization, the high unemployment rates in the Kingdom, the spread of commercial corruption and the spread of bribery.
The Saudi economy presents a negative performance in facing the unemployment crisis in the Kingdom, despite the continuous promotion of promises from Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman to reduce it.
Official statistics for the first quarter of 2021 showed that unemployment among Saudi citizens fell to its lowest level in nearly five years.
However, statistics indicate that this decline is due to the decrease in Saudis willingness or ability to work, and not due to the availability of jobs, which means that these numbers bear a negative indicator of the performance of the Saudi economy and not the other way around.
International economic centres confirm that the recent decline in unemployment among Saudis, as promoted by the authorities in the Kingdom, was partly driven by the exit of many from the workforce, which is unwelcome news for the Crown Prince, who has placed job creation for young people at the centre of his agenda.
The unemployment rate fell to 7.11% in the first quarter of 2021, compared to 6.12% in the fourth quarter, a record at the height of the Corona epidemic.
However, the participation of citizens in the labour force declined from 2.51% in the fourth quarter of 2020 to 5.49% in the first three months of this year, the largest decline since the economic downturn in 2017.
The crisis of the Coronavirus last year led to raising the unemployment of Saudi citizens to 4.15%, amid complaints about poor government performance and the inability to develop serious solutions.
The tweeters demanded the departure of Al-Rajhi, the “failed minister”, who faces judicial cases in the UAE and receives financial bribery from foreign arrivals.
Al-Rajhi faces an unprecedented judicial crisis in the United Arab Emirates-based on the abuse of the ruling family.
Al-Rajhi is involved in a vast fraud case described as the largest real estate fraud in the Middle East, the Tameer case.
According to what the documents reveal, Saqr bin Mohammed bin Zayed Al Nahyan decided to file a case against Al-Rajhi.
Al-Jazeera’s “What is Hidden is Greater” program revealed information about the case of the Tameer Company, in which Sheikh Saqr’s name was mentioned.
On November 9, 2020, Sheikh Saqr contacted the Foundation to confirm the corruption of Al-Rajhi.
Sheikh Saqr explained that he was shocked by the evidence confirming his involvement in the largest real estate fraud in the Middle East, which Al-Rajhi and his brothers committed.
Sheikh Saqr stated that he conducted an internal investigation through which he found who had “forged” the message issued by his office, which requires the Sharjah Airport Free Zone to take illegal actions concerning Tameer Real Estate Company.
This led to the seizure of the assets of “Tameer” and the transfer of ownership to fictitious companies.
