‘Privatization right solution’ – ‘Shun Stone Age, go for stars’

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When I wanted to receive a reply to my letter on the same day when I was working in the UK, I was eager to post the letter in the box before nine in the morning and the reply would come to me before five in the evening. I do not think that the situation has changed a lot now.

When I read in one of the responses to my article on the status of the postal service in Kuwait, I remembered whatever I saw in one of the comic episodes of Mr Bean. In the episode Mr Bean addresses the letter to himself and the next day shows great pleasure to see the letter pushed under the door of his apartment.

When I read one of the responses to my article on the status of the postal service in Kuwait, I remembered what I saw in an episode of the comedian Mr Bean, in which he was sending letters to the address of his home, and then showing great pleasure the next day to see them under the door of his apartment.

The reader who responded to my article said he felt very pleased with the news report which said the Ministry of Communications had successfully completed the installation of mail boxes in the area of his residence, but request for the mail box was refused.

He was informed the contractor had supplied the boxes without keys. However the official responsible for the project gave him a key after several visits and insistence which lasted over two months.

To get the taste of first experience in his life, the reader posted a letter for himself from the Shamiya Post Office but was greatly disappointed. It is now ten years and he is still waiting for that letter.

Another reader says he needed to send a condolences telegram following the death of a close friend and that he went to several post offices but none of them accepted the telegram.

According to another reader Umm Hussein one of her relatives in Canada said he had sent for her son a simple game and also sent her copy of the postal receipt issued by a Canadian post office. The mother says she visited post offices in Rawdah, Keifan and Safat for several months with the copy of the receipt looking for the parcel sent a year ago.

Local mail posted in Britain arrives the same day while in Kuwait when the year ends the postal authorities wait for the new year seal to arrive because someone has forgotten that the old year is gone and the new one is come and in the process no parcels are accepted because the new seal has not arrived and the public has to wait for weeks.

Reader Ala’a says in spite of all the security conditions experienced by America, he was granted a 10-year visit visa by its embassy in Kuwait in much less time than it takes to send a parcel outside the country from a post office in our country.

Add to this the so many complaints from businessmen and the public, who use the personal mail boxes, of poor service and continued deterioration.

The task of receiving and distributing mail in Kuwait is relatively primitive because the basics have not changed over the years as compared to other more complex services which do not require more than the receipt of letters and parcel bags from abroad and putting them in boxes or delivering them to the recipients or receiving letters and parcels from the public, sorting and sending them to the destination countries.

Therefore, the failure to perform this semi-primitive task is not inevitably due to the shortage in manpower or machines in a homeland that has everything, but lacks conscience and sense of responsibility.

It is very necessary to make radical changes to the service. This is not that difficult if we put the right man in the right place or opt for privatization.

It is sad and shameful if the situation remains as it is now.

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By Ahmad Al-Sarraf

This news has been read 9395 times!