08/03/2023
08/03/2023
WASN’T the attack and invasion of Kuwait a lesson for all Kuwaitis to construct a solid and competent state in which equity wins? Wasn’t it an event for the correct man to be put in the right place, and for those with competencies to have an opportunity to serve their nation?
Weren’t all the crises that the nation experienced over the past three decades sufficient for everybody to think about the negatives they might lead to and work to solve them? Or is Kuwait ordained to endure disappointment and retreat at all levels including social, cultural, financial, and of course political?
All these and other questions are being asked by citizens who find themselves stuck in a vicious circle from which there is no hope of getting out. This is due to the fact that the executive authority is almost absent, if not clinically dead. As for the legislative authority, feel free to speak your mind. The MPs are devoted to their personal interests and the pursuit of functional and financial privileges. Appointments are based on the principle of nepotism and favoritism.
Our governments, since liberation to this day, have been weak or rather jittery because of corruption. In fact, some officials and ministers have been taken to the courts because they looted huge chunks of public money. Some officials seized the money and flew abroad to avoid justice. No one was held accountable, and the money wasn’t recovered to the extent that drug dealers fled from the border crossings without anyone moving a finger.
Education has declined since after the invasion to levels where illiterates are emerging, and forged certificates flourish. Cheating has become a parliamentary and popular demand, forgetting that the progress of nations is measured by the quality of education. Imagine what the case of Kuwait will be when cheaters graduate, assume positions and lead the administration!
People are tired of talking about the dilapidated infrastructure that does not exist in any country, especially those that Kuwait boasts of supporting, lending and offering donations to build their infrastructure. Furthermore, let us not forget the loan crisis and the huge number of people who are banned from traveling and subject to great physical coercion.
As for the economy, it suffices that the international reports revealed the shortcomings of its bad management, and the negative results that affected most companies, if not all. Housing remains a dilemma of all dilemmas because those concerned were content with rhetorics only, and no solutions were presented.
What is left of a country that is supposed to have great financial wealth, competencies and human energies, as well as a legislative system capable of amending and developing laws, and a government that is supposed to have a degree of national responsibility to perform its role to the fullest, and not throw accusations at the National Assembly, which in turn returns the ball to its court?
All this is happening, and more will happen. This is because there is no hand that can save the country from its crises. It has the firm decision titled “Enough, and let each one perform his work in a spirit of responsibility”. Otherwise, Kuwait must live at “random” to its fate.
By Ahmed Al-Jarallah
Editor-in-Chief, the Arab Times