My colleague, Abdul Latif Al-Duaij, has published a collection of his articles titled “Battles of the Pen,” which summarizes the central themes of most of his articles. I had previously shared some of his “battles,” one of which was the “Commission for the Promotion of Virtue and the Prevention of Vice,” an organization whose establishment was put forward by MPs affiliated with Salafist and Muslim Brotherhood groups. At the time, we succeeded in preventing the proposal from being adopted.
Over the years, we agreed on many issues and topics, both before and after that period, and we both experienced the pressures of censorship. While our articles sometimes overlapped in subject matter, they more often differed in focus. My concern was more directed toward confronting religious extremism and exposing the corruption within certain charitable organizations. I succeeded in achieving half of what I had fought for. We were able to curb the corruption of some of these charitable organizations, whose large number raised questions about the motives behind their establishment.
The Minister of Social Affairs, in her capacity as the official responsible for charitable work, stated that the ministry is working to build a reliable and leading charitable sector by preventing the misuse of donations. This will be achieved through stronger regulation and oversight of charitable organizations, encouraging them to focus their activities and funding within Kuwait, and localizing charitable work to ensure donations are not exploited for personal or partisan interests. The ministry also aims to regulate fundraising activities exclusively through official and publicly announced platforms.
These measures have been implemented through a series of organized ministerial and administrative decisions. The ministry and its staff deserve appreciation for their commendable efforts in regulating and localizing charitable work. However, it must be acknowledged that until a few months ago, things were out of control, particularly with regard to fundraising for charitable projects abroad. Through several articles and interviews, we have repeatedly highlighted the lack of oversight over funds collected for external projects. Despite the ministry’s repeated assurances that such funds were disbursed under the supervision of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, this has never been the case.
The ministry’s role was primarily confined to approving the transfer of funds, without direct monitoring of how or where the donations were spent. Therefore, we continued to warn against the intense activity of certain organizations and their suspicious drive to collect donations for projects both inside and outside the country. This was carried out through hundreds of donation appeals for dozens of projects that flooded social media.
Within an hour of presenting the matter to a senior official and outlining the serious flaws in these questionable activities, a decision was taken to immediately ban them. As a result, the advertisements disappeared from social media platforms and public spaces, leaving only officially authorized campaigns. We had previously succeeded in stopping the transfer of $13 million intended for the construction of a children’s hospital in Gaza, funds which would undoubtedly have vanished, just as hundreds of millions of other dollars had disappeared in similar cases. I also recall fundraising campaigns that were presented as efforts to finance the sending of preachers abroad. We had proved how the entire process was often a scam, as no preacher was ever sent. Charitable work had long been a secretive affair, with no one knowing what was happening inside.
The government’s recent decisions have succeeded in shedding light to the dark corners, so that for the first time in 75 years, we now know what is happening within them. I would like to extend thanks to those who listened to and acted upon these warnings, prevented this negligence, and contributed to achieving half of our dreams. We await the realization of the other half, which is the banning of certain other associations.
