Mallow, watercress Minister personality of ‘Al-Hakim Bi-Amr Allah’

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ABU Ali Mansour, better known by his regnal name “Al-Hakim Bi-Amr Allah” (The Ruler by the Order of God) was the sixth ruler of the Fatimid Empire in the 10th century. He was known for his strange decisions, for example, he had prohibited the cultivation of mallow and watercress crops, and ordered the punishment of those who ate them.

It is said that the reason behind his ban on the cultivation of mallow and watercress plants was that he almost fell after stepping on them on one of the streets of Cairo at that time. In fact, he is known to have issued many contradictory orders, such as he would allow a certain thing to be done, but when someone does it, that person would get punished.

It seems that our Minister of Health, in fact the entire Cabinet, is following in the footsteps of the ruler “Al-Hakim Bi-Amr Allah” with contradictory decisions such as the partial curfew, which was implemented in accordance to the minister’s recommendations.

It seems that the Health Minister is afraid of being infected with COVID-19 and has thus quarantined the entire country, as well as threatened the violators with imprisonment for Kuwaitis and deportation for non-Kuwaitis.

In addition to all that, the minister did not leave any means of transportation for them to reach their homes in a timely manner. The residents have been left displaced on the streets, and terrified of what would happen to them if they got arrested after 5:00pm.

This is a very ugly description of the situation on the ground which has no precedent from any other country. Kuwait claims to fight international terrorism, when it, within its borders, terrifies, or rather terrorizes, people who are under its care and are seriously working.

Considering this historical transportation crisis that Kuwait suffers from and the prevention of expatriates from obtaining driving licenses and owning cars, suppose if they delay for an hour or two on the streets as it has been happening daily since the beginning of the partial curfew, will you deport tens of thousands of them?

Are the threats made against them by the concerned ministers acceptable to reason? Isn’t this discrimination and racism? What should an expatriate worker, who works the whole day and does not find a means of transportation before 5:00 pm, do, O ministers of Health and Interior? Should he wear an invisible hat?

We also ask – If you quarantine people in their homes between 5:00 pm and 5:00 am, will the spread of  COVID-19 virus stop, or does it mean that the virus cannot spread during the day?

Isn’t there a wise rational person in the Ministry of Health and some concerned ministries to guide you to the right path? Or are these just decisions and fake gains at the expense of the people and the interest of the country, as well as the image of Kuwait in front of the world?

Why not speed up the vaccination process, diversify vaccines, then leave it to people to choose what they want from them, and distribute them to hospitals and private health centers?

We will not repeat the talk about the precautionary measures taken by some of our friendly countries, which have reaped great benefits in their economy and for their people despite the higher rate of spread of COVID-19 virus there than in Kuwait.

For instance, Saudi Arabia has lifted the curfew and resumed normal life, and so did the United Arab Emirates, Bahrain, Britain, the United States, and many other countries. They neither deported nor imprisoned anyone in an impulsive manner, as seen in Kuwait, which is assumed to be the country of humanity and should ideally rise to the occasion.

These decisions have destroyed the livelihood of the people here. Businesses have been disrupted, projects have closed, and the number of cases in the courts has increased, either related to the rents people were unable to pay, or for defaulting to pay off bank installments.

The government did not put in place any real rescue or rather stimulus plan. Instead, the government’s procedures have become a source of ridicule for the Kuwaitis, and the whole world because of the state of confusion, improvisation and contradiction that Kuwait has reached. It is as if the personality of Al-Hakim bi-Amr Allah has been reincarnated in the current government.

By Ahmed Al-Jarallah

Editor-in-Chief, the Arab Times

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