We can't let our slaves go on vacation or renew their visas, because [please insert excuse here]

Another example of defending the indefensible... In today's GDN, Habib Ali Awachi and Sons Company list a plethora of excuses for not letting staff go on vacations or renewing their visas, after one of their slaves labourers complains that he hasn't been allowed a vacation for six-and-a-half years, and they hadn't renewed his visa after it expired three years ago.  The story about the man who is getting a little desparate now and claims his wife is threatening to kill herself and their two children because his company "allegedly" refuses to send him home, is printed on the same page.  He also claims there are 150 others in a similar situation.

Habib Ali Awachi and Sons Company's response is laughable and repeated below in full.  What is the Ministry of Labour or the LMRA doing if they are allowing these shenanigans to continue?  Why isn't the company blacklisted and their CR annulled? 

Is there any property or infrastructure developer in Bahrain that applies ethical standards in awarding contracts to construction companies, or even attempts to vet them to ensure they meet the minimum criteria for treatment of their staff?

Construction crisis blamed for delays in labourers' vacations

Posted on » Thursday, March 11, 2010

A CRISIS in the construction industry was yesterday blamed for delays in vacations and the renewal of visas at the Habib Ali Awachi and Sons Company.
Chief executive officer Zuhair Awachi admitted the visas of several workers had expired, while others had been denied holidays.
He blamed global financial turmoil, delays in payments from clients - including the government - and a tax on expat workers for crippling the construction industry.
But he claimed the company was now in the process of cancelling the visas of its workforce and sending them back home.
"We are aware that visas of some of our workers have not been renewed," he told the GDN.
"And we also know that many have applied for annual leave, but their applications have been rejected.
"We are cancelling their visas and sending them back to their countries.
"We have already sent 28 last month and 10 at the beginning of this month.
"The reason is that we didn't get BD800,000 from one of the ministries and, on top of that, we have to spend a lot of money on expat workers when we bring them to Bahrain to work for us.
"We are spending a lot of money on their training, and Labour Market Regularity Authority (LMRA) and General Organisation for Social Insurance (Gosi) fees.
"The LMRA knows our situation very well, we are suffering as a construction company and due to budget problems.
"We haven't received payment from ministries for several months and we have an official letter from them asking us to bear with them.
"We, as a local company, can only wait and try to finish the work on time - but foreign companies abandon the work and leave the country.
"What happened in the case of the Isa Town flyover? The company (Sungwon) took the government to court.
"We as locals can't do that as we are Bahrainis and we have to live and work in Bahrain, in good or bad conditions."
Mr Awachi said the company had already flown home hundreds of workers in the past six months, and said 100 more were due to leave within two months.
"We have 800 expats and 250 Bahrainis working for us and we increased the basic salary for each employee last year," he added.
"Our company is located on the road - it's not hidden and everybody knows about it.
"The problem is that we can't satisfy all our workers and, unfortunately, we have to send them back.
"Around 100 workers are already on the list and we will finish the list in two months' time.
"We are now processing their documents and finalising their settlements so that they can leave for good and forever.
"Everybody knows that liquidity in the market is very low and, for us, it was really a bad season.
"In the last six months, 240 workers left Bahrain and we are looking for more idle manpower to be sent back."
Mr Awachi revealed that family funds were being pumped into the company, but said he hoped for a quick recovery from the crisis.
"We have high hopes that Bahrain will recover soon and all the sectors, not only construction, will boom again," he added.

Villamar project is on track says GHC. Yeah right!

In today's GDN, Kuwait-based Gulf Holding Company (GHC) attempts to defend the indefensible. Word on the street is that work on the Villamar project is at a standstill due to the lack of liquidity. You only have to look at the building to see that work has stopped.  Those cranes have stopped moving.  Meanwhile, as per the press release in the GDN...

"Construction on three towers of the flagship project is progressing round the clock," GHC senior investment relations officer Ahmad Al Shammari said....

..."Work on the development never stopped for a single moment and is progressing round the clock, because of the availability of sufficient liquidity needed to finance the construction coupled with the company's determination to deliver the development on schedule," he added.

Sorry mate... telling porkies ruins you and your's firm's credibility.  When will companies in this region wake up to this simple fact.  This is not an isolated case - this is the norm.  Last week we had a similar denial of the facts from the failing Amwaj Gateway project. When will these people learn that lying in public won't help their cause... the only people they can hope to influence with their lies are those that know the facts anyway.  Those naive enough to believe the lies probably don't care... they won't haven't invested/speculated on property in the development.

Rapists must not escape justice

The GDN has an article today from Women's Rights campaigners following up on the story I blogged earlier.

Rapists 'must not escape justice...'

By REBECCA TORR , Posted on » Monday, March 01, 2010

WOMEN's rights campaigners are demanding urgent changes to a draconian law that they claim encourages rape.

Under current Bahraini legislation, rapists are escaping punishment dished out by the courts by marrying their victims after they have been convicted.

Victims often agree to the marriage because of the social stigma, fearing that having been raped they will be unable to find another husband.

However, activists claim that in most cases the rapist divorces his victim soon after the marriage - having already secured his freedom.

They are now calling for changes to the law so that convicted rapists have to serve their full prison sentence, regardless of whether they marry their victims or not.

Batelco Care Centre for Family Violence Cases president Dr Banna Bu Zaboon argued the current law actually promoted violence against women.

"Because of the stigma in society they (the victims) agree to get married, but it causes more problems and leads to further sexual and physical abuse and psychologically it is very damaging," Dr Bu Zaboon told the GDN.

"In most cases they don't stay married because they (the rapists) say they never intended to marry a girl they already know."

In the latest case reported by the GDN, a convicted rapist sentenced to three years in jail was allowed to walk free after judges heard that he had married his victim - who had previously worked as his housemaid.

Bahrain Human Rights Watch Society secretary general Faisal Fulad said the loophole was simply a get out of jail free card for rapists.

"Imagine he raped her for a few weeks and beat her and when they come to the judge he says if you marry her you will be free," said Mr Fulad, who is also a Shura Council member.

"How is this? It's against human rights. Even if he (the rapist) doesn't divorce her straight away there is nothing to say he won't divorce her in three months, six months or one or two years later.

"This is not correct. He should go to jail under the rape law and then if he wants to marry her or not that is up to him.

"He should be punished otherwise the law will be very weak in society and make men feel it's easy to rape."

Mr Fulad warned that unless laws were toughened up rape would remain a silent crime.

He now plans to raise the matter with the Shura Council's women's committee.

"This law is weak against rape, we need the law to be tough," he said.

"A woman who is raped will be a shame in society, so she will feel forced to marry.

"I'm sure there are many women who are raped in Bahrain that don't talk because they feel shy or something bad in society.

"This will make her physically and mentally sick and this guy will rape again.

"We need better protection for women against rape."

Meanwhile, Bahrain Women's Union president Mariam Al Ruwaie said her organisation had long been campaigning for changes to the law and had already held meetings with decision makers - including a special committee set up by parliament.

"This law needs to be changed because he (the rapist) makes a marriage agreement with her (the victim) and then a week or one month down the line he divorces her," said Ms Al Ruwaie.

"We demand another law to protect women from violence.

"We think the rapist should be punished for his crime and there should be a law that gives women more protection against violence."

becky@gdn.com.bh

If you get caught as a rapist, marry her...

No wonder rape is so prevalent in this part of the world, if the guy has a 'get out of jail free' card... and the victim usually has no say in the matter. I can see why living in a country practicing shariah law can be quite attractive if you are a bloke. In today's GDN...

Rapist spared after marrying his housemaid
By NOOR TOORANI, Posted on » Monday, February 08, 2010

A CONVICTED rapist was yesterday released from a three-year prison sentence after marrying his victim.

The Bahraini was convicted by the High Criminal Court last year of raping his housemaid after luring her into a room.

Judges sentenced him to prison despite the woman dropping the charges against him.

He then lodged an appeal at the Supreme Criminal Appeals Court and his defence lawyer Majed Al Shehabi submitted a marriage certificate last week.The man appeared in court with his lawyers yesterday where he was acquitted by the judges.

The court axed the case after lawyers argued that the law stipulates that criminal charges are dropped if the man charged with rape marries the woman.

It is understood the defendant was earlier released from police custody on bail as his appeal case was underway.

Dubai's The World sinking?

According to the UK's Daily Mail, the islands in Dubai's World islands development are rapidly merging together and also appear to be sinking. The original article can be viewed here.

Naturally, the property developers, Nakheel vehemently deny this. Who is right? Time will tell. Certainly the NASA photo shows the huge differences in reality versus the myth that was promoted to investors (see image below).

The load-bearing capacity of The World islands' reclaimed land mass is about twice that of mainland Dubai, Nakheel noted.

I'm not a geologist or construction engineer, but I'd like to see some support for that statement from someone knowledgable in this area...

What a shame Nakheel has left New Zealand off in their map of the world... I guess we can be thankful that a true paradise is not caught up in Dubai's folly.

Bahraini taxi drivers attempt to fleece tourists

Today's chuckle from the GDN...

Premier orders probe
Posted on » Monday, January 25, 2010

MANAMA: An inquiry was ordered yesterday into the events that followed the docking of luxury cruise liner Brilliance of the Seas at Khalifa bin Salman Port on Saturday.

His Royal Highness Prime Minister Prince Khalifa bin Salman Al Khalifa ordered the inquiry after taxi drivers allegedly demanded $300 to $400 for taking tourists to Manama. Newspapers also criticised the manner in which officials received the management of Royal Caribbean International, the world's largest cruise company. HRH the Premier said such incidents created a bad impression about Bahrain and ordered the suspension all officials concerned (sic).

Welcome to Bahrain! Of course this type of incident creates a bad impression of Bahrain, however residents of Bahrain will no doubt feel like it is a good thing that the problem has finally caught the attention of the PM... Being naturally skeptical of any ministerial attempt to act, a probe to find someone to blame will probably mean that an expat or two gets fired, as is the way with these things... while the Bahraini taxi drivers will remain indifferent to any attempts to change the way they act. I kind of hope that more incidents like the docking of the luxury cruise liner are made public, and real attempts to reform are initiated... but change needs to start at the top, with those currently immune from reform. If that doesnt happen we will only continue to get window dressing, and half-hearted attempts to solve issues in the country.

As I sit in my office and see and hear VVIP motorcades pass by all hours of the day, most days, with police stopping all other traffic to ensure that the VVIPs are treated with the uppermost respect (not understanding or caring for the contempt it breeds instead), I wish the same VVIPs would also get the chance to sample life in the real world and put up with the same traffic issues everyone else on the island suffers from.

Saudi women have rights.... yeah right!

Just another example of craziness from our neighbours...

Saudi women gym shut
Published Date: January 21, 2010

RIYADH: Health authorities in Jeddah have shut down an "illegal" women's fitness centre attached to a hospital, closing one of the few venues where Saudi women are able to exercise, local media said yesterday. Although health officials have repeatedly blamed the high rates of heart disease and diabetes in the kingdom on poor diets and lack of exercise, health authorities said women's fitness centers were not allowed.

Anyone who violates regulations governing the running of health facilities would be punished severely because this involves people's health," Jeddah health official Muhammed Abdul Jawad told the English-language Arab News. The reports did not identify the Jeddah hospital affected, but a photograph in the Saudi Gazette showed an official sealing the club door with an announcement reading "Closed on the order of Jeddah Health Affairs.

While gyms for men in the gender-segregated conservative Islamic society
are permitted, women's health clubs are forbidden, despite a clear demand shown
by a surge in underground facilities in the past two years. But last year a number of stand-alone women's gyms were shut, though some attached to or inside hospital premises continued to function. The reports said the country's municipal and rural affairs ministry had recently closed two other gyms in the Red City of Jeddah and one in Dammam, eastern Saudi Arabia. - AFP

Hmmm... so let me understand this... a Jeddah health official closes woman's gym because this is a health issue. In other words, we don't want Saudi woman to be healthy... we like them obese and to die early from health complications. (please note sarastic tone!)