A government similar to the previous 3 is bad for creativity, it’s bound to fall

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A PROFESSOR of Political Thought at Qatar University Dr. Tijani Abdul Qader Hamid was right when he said, “Nations do not die because of a siege from outside. They are killed by an internal siege that dries up the sources of creativity.”

Whoever does not develop himself by acquiring new abilities and skills will find himself outside the ring. This applies to not only individuals, but also groups and states.

Management of states should be based on creativity in work and constant development, instead of relying on a specific method. If that method fails, it usually gets re-applied in order to achieve different results. This is considered as a desecration of the state as a whole. Administration should not be based on closing the state to others because this would indicate its backwardness and the lack of cross-breeding of ideas and knowledge of the experiences of others.

Unfortunately, this matter has become a practice in Kuwait, which in the past few years witnessed a tight closure with lock and key. It seems that the owner of this vision does not hear or see while Kuwait undergoes this deliberate strangulation.

His Highness the Prime Minister Sheikh Sabah Al-Khaled’s assumption of the premiership of the Council of Ministers could have constituted a kind of renewal, not only in the executive authority, but in all state institutions. However, it unfortunately did not bring anything new, as corruption worsened while he fought his battles with the National Assembly on the basis of “no one but me” when he concluded deals to stop his constitutional accountability, fortifying himself, while stripping the state of its protective shields, the first of which was the economy.

For the first time in the history of the successive governments since 1962, a minister of Finance came out to publicly announce that the state is on the verge of a deficit in paying the salaries of employees, and that the financial reserve is about to expire. However, the state has great tools to enhance its sovereign funds and its global investments, which could have been strengthened like what many countries did in terms of taking advantage of the consequences of the COVID-19 pandemic and working to borrow based on their sovereign classification with low interest.

This is what Norway, which has the largest sovereign fund in the world, did. Instead of absurd spending, it worked on increasing its investments in global stocks that fell at the beginning of the pandemic, and then rose. As a result, its sovereign fund achieved USD 111 billion within six months of this year.

In addition, the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, Bahrain, Qatar, and many other countries capitalized on the pandemic to improve their financial situation.

The financial deficit that Kuwait suffers from is evidence of the lack of a creative sense in managing the economy, or rather managing the state. The person in charge of the executive authority is either immersed in making settlements to escape the interpellation platform, or searching for the gender of angels in appointing certain individuals instead of searching for a program with a realistic act of running a country that lives on tinkering with decisions.

Therefore, if His Highness the Prime Minister Sabah Al-Khaled follows what is published in the media and on social media, he would realize that the majority of Kuwaitis criticize his method of managing the executive authority.

All the decisions issued by the ministers or the undersecretaries of the ministries have been against the interest of Kuwait and its people, starting with the failure to resolve the issue related to the decision to ban the renewal of residencies for expatriates over the age of 60 years, to the suspension of driving licenses for expatriates. Despite the government’s denial of the decision to suspend renewal of expatriates’ driving licenses, the traffic departments across the country have received strict instructions not to renew any license, in addition to many other random and confused decisions.

With such a backward administrative mentality, can Kuwait compete with neighboring countries in progress, and become a global financial and trade center? Those countries have begun to turn into a mecca for all investors due to the great openness they adopted as a path for them to keep pace with the developments of the times. They have preceded us by light years.

The argument of His Highness the Prime Minister in the three governments he administered was that the National Assembly opposes any reform step and is obstructing the laws. However, when he had the opportunity during the parliamentary recess, he did not take any executive steps. He instead  procrastinated, and then fled to resign after the start of the current session!

If His Highness the Prime Minister will work in the fourth government, which he intends to form, in the same way that he worked in the past three governments, then no progress can be expected. The situation will further dry up the sources of creativity, not only in the executive authority, but in the entire country.

By Ahmed Al-Jarallah

Editor-in-Chief, the Arab Times

This news has been read 14406 times!

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