Hatred for trader is disease

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Some call, with excessive naivety, to fight merchants, and perhaps eliminate them, unaware of the role of merchants or businessmen in society and the economy.

Without them, especially with the beginning of the emergence of Kuwait, and their financing of the state’s joints with what they used to pay in terms of taxes, in the middle of the 19th century, and until oil production began, Kuwait would not be what it is now.

Some people forget or pretend to forget that all the first vital projects, such as banks, airlines, food, insurance and transportation companies, had the footprints of merchants for their success.

And if we imagine, in a caricature way, that the state eliminated the entire class of merchants, and increased the salaries of state employees tenfold, and dropped debts, then the money in the hands of individuals will mean nothing, in the absence of the merchant who seeks, takes risks, and more risks to import clothes, building materials, food, medicines, and other goods worth millions of dollars.

What some do not want to understand is that trade is no difference from any other profession or job. Just as there is a bad merchant, there is an equally bad doctor, engineer and car driver, and so on.

In the Al-Qabas issue of May 3, 1974, report said a session was held in the Chamber of Commerce, that is, half a century ago, on “oil surpluses.”

At the end of it, some elite personalities summarized their views on this subject, as the late Abd al-Rahman al-Ateeqi began his speech by refusing to accept the blame that the Arab oil countries were negligent in investing their money.

He explained that all of them did not have surpluses except for Kuwait, and although it was necessary to invest its money in the Arab world, the transfer of funds for this purpose required political and economic stability, and this was not available, and that was an obstacle to investment.

After him, the late President of the Chamber of Commerce Abdulaziz Al-Saqer spoke, and he exposed the problem of increasing population in the world, so he called for focusing on agriculture in the Arab world to achieve sufficiency.

Regarding the areas of investment in the world, he said that it is wide and that it absorbs oil surpluses, and said that we need a lot of coordination, and mentioned the difficulties of transportation in the Arab world, and stressed the need to provide trained human cadres, and indicated that the fleet of Kuwaiti oil tankers transports only 2.7 percent of oil production.

After him, the former Governor of the Central Bank of Kuwait, Mr. Hamzah Abbas, spoke and said that development at the Arab level must take place through joint investment companies that play their role alongside the current development funds.

After him, the late Ahmad Al-Duaij spoke, calling for improvement in education and training, and taking care of his health first.

From all of this, we see that the Chamber of Commerce’s interest in developing the economy and establishing major projects is not new, but rather goes back to decades and that the merchants are the builders of the state and its backbone, from the urban and the economic point of view.

Footnote: The only one who is still alive among the above mentioned figures is Hamza Abbas who occupied a number of positions including the first governor of the Central Bank Kuwait and first director of the Monetary Council. He is the most among respected figures who have been victimized by injustice and has not obtained the appreciation he deserved despite his honorable professional history.

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By Ahmad alsarraf

This news has been read 31992 times!