Kuwait Dep Amir urges public unity after video leaks, adding offenders will be punished

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KUWAIT, Aug 23: His Highness the Deputy Amir and Crown Prince urged the need for government and parliament unity in tackling corruption, following the leak of videos, he deemed were an “encroachment on people’s freedoms and privacy” but said “no offender will escape punishment.”

In a televised address to the public, His Highness Sheikh Nawaf Al-Ahmad Al-Jaber Al-Sabah began by praying for the recovery of His Highness the Amir Sheikh Sabah Al-Ahmad Al-Jaber Al-Sabah and his safe return home from surgery abroad.

The social media revelations, he went on to say, are “manifestations of meddling and chaos in the nation, particularly in relation to the recent leaks that affect some employees in our security institutions.”
This matter has been an “attempt by some to cause disharmony and stir up strife,” he underlined

“This matter has gained my personal interest,” he said, saying the issue “in its entirety and all of its details” is under investigation. He expressed full confidence in the efforts of the security institution and judiciary in delivering a “just punishment” for any wrongdoing.

“This requires everyone to stop the spread of such harmful material, which only the enemies of the nation will benefit from, and those who seek to achieve their own interests and goals at the expense of our national security,” he said.

His Highness the Amir, had himself, repeatedly warned of the “deviating nature” of some social media reports, he said, indicating to their “demolishing and sabotaging” effects on the structure of the Kuwaiti society.
This information may carry “slander and stir up strife, spread the spirit of frustration and pessimism and launch accusations without any evidence,” he underlined.

“We will not allow a misguided few to drag our country into a state of division and chaos in the name of false freedom,” he also warned.

However, he highlighted that his “belief in the freedom of expression is firm, and our commitment to the democratic approach is firm in a way that does not accept skepticism or outbidding.”
The country has been bound from “generation after generation” by an “honest model of national consensus… governed by the constitution, the rule of law, and public interest,” he added.
He conceded there were crucial matters and issues that needed to be resolved, “resulting from long accumulations,” such as education and youth, administrative reform, the country’s demography, public services and economic reform – through resolving the waste in public funds and corruption.
In addressing these issues, he expressed “huge confidence” in His Highness the Prime Minister alongside the Kuwaiti people, and called on the government and parliament to take effective measures to deter corrupt officials and practices.

These are “actual and grave challenges that cannot bear the luxury of procrastination and preoccupation with political wrangling, settling scores and scoring points, and deviation in the use of constitutional monitoring tools that do not achieve reform,” he said.

He went on to describe corruption in the country as a “devastating plague,” which may lead nations to “poverty, ignorance and disease.”
“We have a serious and resolute opportunity to confront this devastating danger with full determination and strength as fighting corruption is not an option, but rather a legitimate duty, a constitutional entitlement, a moral responsibility and a national project, whose responsibility everyone shares,” he went to stress.

He concluded by underling that members of the Royal Family are a “part of the Kuwaiti people, and the same laws apply to them. Whoever makes a mistake bears responsibility for that mistake,” he said. “No one is above the law.”

(KUNA)

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