publish time

03/12/2020

publish time

03/12/2020

After reading this article, some people may find a contradiction with the topic of yesterday’s article regarding my desire to participate in the elections. Many observers believe that the elections in Kuwait resemble a cinematic or a theatrical show. We know that what we see is nothing more than a show, we nevertheless interact with it, and sometimes we shed tears, grieve, and feel proud or are joyful at other times.

The Kuwaiti elections are, at their core, a constitutional process that is like an elaborate play that satisfies the various parties, but in reality it is a political game that has nothing to do with democracy. What it means in real terms is power rotation and real control of government performance.

Most, if not all, of the legislations issued by the Parliament are usually appropriate for the government while leaving the room from time to time to pass a law that is not in favor of the government, let us say add more spices to a bad meat.

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The signs of Kuwait’s ‘no democracy’ are numerous, and the puppet strings are held in a professional manner. Its weapons are money and services, political and electoral, and it rarely uses violence and threats, as it happened for the last time after the dissolution of the Assembly of 1938.

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 Our democracy works without parties, and the absence of parties means the absence of programs and policies for which the government is held accountable, unlike what is mentioned in the Amiri speech at the time of the opening session of the Assembly which often does not receive an in-depth periodic discussion or review.

Moreover, our democracy is penetrated, in full government view by the religious parties and forces of tribalism that can push whoever they want to win the parliamentary seat through sectarian or tribal loyalty, or the so-called by-elections or primaries which are punished by law but happens as the concerned authorities turn a blind eye.

The government also knows that political money is used in elections. It also knows that the reason for the rush to buy votes or the huge spending on the campaign is due to the wealth that the corrupt people will achieve far exceeding what they spend.

In the absence of parties, the laxity of oversight rules the roost, and the need for government of some votes to pass a law or support a minister against whom an interpellation request has been filed. It does not hesitate to bribe the sup-portive MPs with gifts or other services to achieve this end.

One of the deputies said his masters have been always generous to him for years. A former deputy admitted, in more than one TV interview, that he had taken money to be spent on the Shiite mosques in his electoral district.

Likewise, the ‘beach drowning man’, the hero of the Syrian Sunni resistance, did not escape the temptation to collect donations from a previous government to support his blessed foundation. His beard did not prevent him from accept-ing the grant at that time.

From all this, we all are part of a funny, weepy play, and therefore we urgently need to amend our electoral morals and improve our electoral system, away from our customs and traditions but lay emphasis on reason and logic.

e-mail: [email protected]

By Ahmad alsarraf