KUWAITIS today are facing a test through which they must demonstrate their capability to handle the national responsibility, and work on helping the head of state in safeguarding the country, in accordance with the clear vision set by His Highness the Amir.

This involves reflecting on either his recent speech on the occasion of the last ten days of Ramadan or the previous speeches he delivered over the past months and weeks, wherein he defined the aspirations of the majority regarding the future of their country.

In the past days, weeks and months, we have been seeing a leader who follows up on everything that is happening in the local arena. He is firm in his decision.

In fact we now know what good governance looks like, and we must admit that we, for the first time in nearly 50 years, have a completely different leadership whose national ambitions are beyond interpretation.

Therefore, today’s bet is on the people’s choices. It hinges on those who prioritize the welfare of their nation over tribal or sectarian allegiances, and temporary personal gains. They are urged to head to the ballot box with a mindset of preservation in order to elect representatives who prioritize Kuwait’s interests above personal desires and ambitions

In his speech of the last ten days, His Highness said, Do not choose someone whose goal is to achieve personal interests, create crises, or undermine constitutional constants. Your correct choice is your path to building the future of your country and your generations”. This means that His Highness has clarified the nature of the path that the vote should take so that there should be no endorsement of the corrupt at the expense of the nation.

Voters also should not rely on the campaigns launched by the candidates for personal goals, far away from the interests of Kuwait, which has led to the spread of corruption and have even extended to changing the Kuwaiti social culture.

The practices of the past years, both parliamentary and ministerial, have created a defect that cannot be corrected except through two cooperating authorities in line with a clear path and program. They must also avoid the cut-and-paste programs that were followed in the past decades, which produced weak Cabinets, the first characteristic of which was to submit and cower in the face of any parliamentary threat to grill any Cabinet member.

Likewise, we should not have parliamentarians who work according to their personal or partisan agendas, and thus permit all prohibitions and commit misdeeds in public administration, with a hope for a vote from here or there.

Nonetheless, His Highness was frank when he said, “Stay away from betraying the trust of the vote”.

Everyone has noticed in the past parliaments the extent of the damage caused by choices based on electoral and personal bribery.

Hence, hope is pinned on the outcome of today’s elections. Will it produce “a distinguished parliament of faces glowing with enlightened thought, and members who benefit from previous parliamentary lessons and experiences, and fulfill their national responsibilities”

This question is posed not only by His Highness the Amir, but also by the majority of rational people in Kuwait who suffer daily due to the decline the country has reached at all levels in terms of tampering with public affairs, and the decline in administration, the economy, and society, as a result of one authority encroaching on other powers, or even confiscating them.

Enough of what the country has suffered through decades of failed experiments, and from the two authorities! Everyone must work on achieving the clear Amiri vision in fulfilling the people’s aspirations.

This is due to the fact that those who have struggled with Kuwaiti political life for six decades until today have realized that, if the outcome of the elections are not up to the level of seriousness, sophistication and national responsibility, and based on what the observers read between the lines of the speech of the last ten days, there will be a painful procedure. A sign is enough for the wise person.

By Ahmed Al-Jarallah

Editor-in-Chief, the Arab Times