Indeed, they wasted the country and people’s interests

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YOUR Highness the Amir, may Almighty Allah assist and guide you in the great task that you have been entrusted with.

For the past three years, all hopes were on you, especially since the health condition of our late Amir Sheikh Nawaf Al-Ahmad wasn’t at its best. This made the task difficult, but as Your Highness said, “Obedience to the ruler is obedience to Allah.”

Therefore, great hopes have been pinned on Your Highness to shake off the dust of nearly three decades, and perhaps more, that has covered public affairs, making the state retrogress in all sectors and fields.

Our reliance on the state’s sole income, which is oil, has increased, now constituting about 93 percent. There were no steps to diversify the sources of state revenues.

This translates to the failure of plans and programs in this regard, or in modernizing the industrial, food, and service infrastructure to attract investments, both national and foreign, to the country, similar to neighboring countries.

Most of the strategic spending is either on salaries, which represents a burden on the public finances that has reached the point where some of the concerned ministers have hinted at the lack of liquidity to meet that need, or on money given as external donations and loans, which experience have proven to be ineffective, or also on deals that Your Highness spoke about in your speech during the constitutional oath session; as all of them have harmed the interests of the state.

Your Highness, you have warmed the hearts of the people with your insight on the state of the country. You affirmed that by saying, “The two authorities – the legislative and the executive – agreed to harm the interests of the country and its people.”

This is undoubtedly the voice of all citizens who are keen about the advancement of Kuwait.

In fact, your statement represents citizens’ honest expression of what happened, and how it affected all areas of life.

The harm was not only in the appointments and transfers to some jobs and positions or to the citizenship file, changing the Kuwaiti identity, and the amnesty file; rather, it reached the point of harming the supreme strategic interests of Kuwait.

In fact, the majority of the members of the two authorities were working on “hustling”, which made the country live in a “looting” struggle as if it were cake or prey, and not a final homeland for them.

Also, in the last few years, rumors increased to the point that some of them were about the ruling house, its personalities, and changes that were imposed without proper authority.

It seems everyone has overlooked the fact that such kind of changes are within the jurisdiction of Your Highness, in accordance with the Constitution, which has spread some anxiety among citizens, as if we are about to fight, God forbid, or as if we were experiencing changes at the head of the state.

There is no doubt that this affects the state’s reputation, both financially and economically, which is why your royal speech during the oath session was a balm.

It is “cauterizing” for anyone who wants to fish in troubled waters, irrespective of whether they have local agendas whose goals are known, or are lurking in Kuwait from abroad.

During the opening session of the current term of the National Assembly a few months ago, Your Highness had warned the National Assembly and the Council of Ministers of the consequences of continuing with the approach of achieving interests, but they did not heed the sound advice.

Therefore, your speech during the oath-taking session about what happened expressed what the Kuwaitis sensed, that the deals amounted to conspiracy.

In fact, the scene seemed as though there were 51 Amirs in Kuwait – one in the Palace of Government, and 50 in the National Assembly – while the ministers appeared as if they were employees, and not people with major responsibilities who had to work for the country’s highest interests.

Your Highness, may Almighty Allah honor you. With your sublime speech, you have made the citizens feel like they are under your highest attention and follow-up, and that you follow up every big and small thing, and you are keen on reform, no matter how painful it is. This is especially after the practices prevalent over the past three decades that have spread tribalism, sectarianism, and factions.

Therefore, the country today needs an experienced captain who is aware of the risks, works to confront changes locally, regionally and internationally in a way that benefits Kuwait, and is strong in his resolve, which does not deviate from the decision. You are the best captain of the Kuwait ship at this sensitive stage.

Your Highness, Kuwait needs a decision-making government in which the hands of its ministers do not tremble. There should be no quota-based governments, but a government that knows what Kuwait wants, and whose main concern is a better future for the people and the country. It should be a government that preserves its sovereignty and puts higher interests ahead of every personal interest. It should be a government that realizes the importance of attracting foreign investments and encouraging local ones, especially after Kuwait has described as an investment-repelling environment since 2009, and after some international credit rating centers announced its decline but the successive governments did not work to address this sensitive and important matter.

It goes without saying that the pressure on citizens’ livelihoods is increasing. Their purchasing power is declining, especially in light of the high cost of craft labor, due to attempts to “dilute” it with laws and decisions that have affected all productive sectors such as the laws and decisions related to expatriates over 60 years of age, and others who have resided here for many years. All of these have turned into added value in neighboring countries, which opened their doors for them.

Your Highness, what the country needs, after 30 years and maybe more of failed experiments or ill-considered decisions, is to work quickly but without haste, to revive light and heavy industries, and to truly pay attention to food security, as well as opening the country, as is customary in all countries of the world, because all of this contributes to an active economic movement and stimulates the financial cycle.

Likewise, it is certain that Kuwait’s role has declined regionally and internationally in the past years, as if it had abandoned its policy, which had created a strong presence for it in the world.

Let us be busy boasting about a democracy in which, to say the least, it is “one-eyed” that only sees with one eye, which is chatter and not production, as is the case in countries similar to ours in a democratic system of government.

Let’s refrain from boasting about a democracy that, to say the least, is one eyed, in the sense that it focuses only on chatter rather than tangible productivity. This echoes the situation in countries akin to ours under a democratic governance system.

Your Highness, you are the beacon of hope and wisdom. You are firm in your decisions, and strict in your accountability. That is why all Kuwaitis today have begun to see the features of a new era.

The coming days must bring good news for them. We also pray for your good health and long life, so that our dreams with you may materialize.

By Ahmed Al-Jarallah

Editor-in-Chief, the Arab Times

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