Kuwait illnesses are ‘weak governments’
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THE people of this country have been anxiously waiting for years to hear reassuring news about their future. They are tired of waiting on the sidelines of the conflict between the two authorities, which abandoned their natural roles and devoted themselves to inventing reasons for causing disruption in an effort to achieve the demands of each team.
However, these demands are far from the people’s aspirations. The ambition is no longer to restore Kuwait’s pioneering role in the region. Rather, it is to maintain the remaining institutions that operate with minimal effort. We are not asking for these institutions to perform miracles, which no longer exist in the minds of any official.
It is shameful that Kuwait has reached such a level of stagnation that spits venom into all the arteries of the state. What is most shameful, or rather ironic, is that after 60 years of democratic experience, the result is zero.
This is due to the fact that 42 governments and 18 parliaments since the independence of Kuwait, and an army of ministers and parliamentarians, have done little but have been getting a lot.The last three decades witnessed a regression from some of the achievements that had made Kuwait a cultural message to the Arab world in the past, and a model to exemplify in terms of openness to others and encouraging individual initiative.
All of this evaporated because the successive governments were not enough to confront the parliamentary quest to seize their powers. On several occasions, some ministers became employees of certain MPs. This expanded the circle of corruption, such that the costs of projects doubled three or four times, financial waste increased in all sectors, education declined, health became ill, and roads turned into trenches. The slogan of diversifying the economy and not relying on oil, and strengthening industry and food security, remained just words repeated in government statements at each meeting or session.
The questions currently being asked are – What is the solution? How can we get out of the impasse caused by the governments that are characterized by weakness and submission to the MPs, especially the last four governments?
The answer to this question is not difficult. There are always solutions, but they require a strong will. It needs a prime minister who has the courage to stand in the face of opportunistic parliamentary attacks, and does not favor fear of accountability. This prime minister must choose competent and strong ministers. In return, people must choose their representatives away from sectarian, partisan and tribal fanaticism.
Today is a good opportunity to change all the destructive patterns inherited by weak governments that surrendered their heads to parliaments that are dominated by the dictatorship of self-seeking and blackmail.
Our take here in stopping this decline begins with the dissolution of the National Assembly and allowing the space to re-correct all mistakes through necessary decrees, as well as the creation of a government that is not afraid of grilling and is not terrified by any threat.
It is enough that the last government was subjected to grillings, most of which were of a malicious nature, because of His Highness the Prime Minister’s abandonment of his role in the response.
The people today aspire for the existence of a strong hand that rules, and clarifies the boundaries between the authorities, so that neither an MP oppresses any minister, nor a minister empowers any MP.
Discretion should never be allowed as a justification for encroaching on public money, and separating by the force of law between personal interest and national interest. This will not be achieved except through a strong prime minister who plays his role creatively, knows what the country requires, and does not leave matters to advisors.
By Ahmed Al-Jarallah
Editor-in-Chief, the Arab Times
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