Syria’s Minister of Agriculture and Agrarian Reform, Basel al-Suwaidan, said in an interview with Enab Baladi on June 26 that the ministry is taking a set of measures related to its employees, including ending unpaid leave, addressing the files of employees dismissed over their ties to the revolution, and resolving the status of engineers who had not taken up their posts.
Ending Unpaid Leave
Al-Suwaidan told Enab Baladi that the decision to cancel unpaid leave and consider it automatically ended one month after the decision was issued on June 23 comes as part of the government’s direction to restructure the ministry.
He added that the step is linked to introducing digital transformation and digitization, alongside work to rebuild the agricultural sector, which faces multiple challenges.
He said the ministry seeks to benefit from existing staff, adding, “An employee who continued working and endured the pressure for a low salary cannot be treated the same as another who keeps his job only formally while working in the private sector or outside the country for high wages.”
Agriculture Minister Basel al-Suwaidan said the continuation of this situation deprives others of job opportunities. He added that the ministry will not need in the future those who were not at their posts when the Ministry of Agriculture needed their expertise.
Regarding humanitarian cases, al-Suwaidan explained that special controls will be set for them if the need to grant unpaid leave for limited periods is proven.
Flaws in Employee Data
The agriculture minister pointed to problems in employee data dating back to previous years, represented by the inaccuracy of part of that data.
He explained that the ministry had detected names of deceased or dismissed employees that were still listed in the records, in addition to outdated data and names he described as “fake.”
Dismissed Employees and Integration
On the file of employees dismissed over their ties to the revolution and the integration file, al-Suwaidan said work is underway to address both, noting that the delay is due to routine administrative procedures.
He added that those entitled to return are expected to be reinstated after these procedures are completed.
The Ministry of Agriculture announced on May 13 that it had begun coordination with the Ministry of Administrative Development and issued preliminary lists of dismissed employees in Idlib (northwestern Syria), in preparation for returning them to work.
The relevant central committee also discussed, on April 14, the project to reinstate dismissed employees, while expanding the covered categories and addressing insurance-related issues linked to them.
The committee explained that the delay in issuing the decree to reinstate those dismissed by the former regime because they joined the revolution was due to the introduction of the necessary amendments to expand its scope to include all mentioned cases, in addition to addressing their insurance contribution files in coordination with the relevant authorities.
The participants discussed the observations raised and their importance in achieving transitional justice and facilitating the return of dismissed employees to their work. Committee head Judge Jihad al-Dimashqi reviewed the final version of the project, its articles, and the legal justifications for each.
The discussion also included expanding the beneficiary categories to include cases of employees suspended from duty, addressing the status of those against whom judicial rulings had been issued, and the rights of the heirs of deceased employees, among them.
Employees Dismissed After “Liberation”
Regarding employees dismissed after the “liberation” phase, al-Suwaidan said decisions had been issued to return all contract employees to their jobs.
The agriculture minister explained that some unresolved cases are linked to security procedures.
The Ministry of Agriculture had announced the completion of official procedures related to renewing the annual contracts of Ministry of Agriculture employees, numbering 6,302 workers, until December 31, 2026, in accordance with the provisions of Law No. 50 of 2004.
Engineers Who Had Not Taken Up Their Posts
As for engineers who were assigned to the ministry in 2024 but had not taken up their posts, al-Suwaidan said their number is about 150 engineers.
He added that their names had been submitted to the relevant authorities, including the Ministry of Administrative Development and the General Secretariat of the Presidency of the Republic, to address their status.
The minister concluded his statement by stressing that the employees’ file, with its various issues, is not limited to the Ministry of Agriculture, but involves several government bodies, including the Ministry of Administrative Development and the General Secretariat of the Presidency of the Republic.
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