What have 470 ministers done for Kuwait?

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FROM the year 1963 until today, a total of 10 prime ministers, 45 cabinets, and about 470 ministers have served this country.

This simple calculation has several implications in terms of not only the ministerial stability but also the imprints they left on the history of our beloved land.

Therefore, when we talk about the lack of productivity of ministers, we do not do injustice to anyone, because today’s development scene indicates this, as it is not at the level of the citizens’ ambition.

For example, the housing problem, which has passed through the hands of about 20 ministers, is yet to be solved. In fact, the problem is constantly worsening.

As for the roads, they are an example of the deterioration that all infrastructure has reached. A total of 29 ministers took over the ministry and left like they were never there.

We always hold the mispractice of democracy responsible, but we must stop at the questions – What has this platoon of ministers provided in the last 60 years? Why have we declined to such a level in the past three decades? Who bears responsibility?

How many prime ministers toured the Kuwaiti areas, saw their conditions, or opened his office to the people? Maybe just four or five from the time of independence until today. However, all of them were intended for show, or they were just quick visits that did not last more than a few minutes.

All of these people live in Kuwaiti areas, and none of them ever cared about piles of garbage that fill our streets. Did any prime minister or minister bothered to visit the “sewage spew in Jleeb Al-Shuyoukh” and the “garbage dunes in Khaitan,” or the investment areas inhabited by expatriates and check the condition of such areas?

This is why we ask – In a small country like Kuwait, does the minister not have time to tour the country, in order to study the extent of the deterioration of infrastructure and poor services?

In recent months, several accidents have occurred on the external roads that connect us with neighboring countries due to potholes and poor maintenance, resulting in many casualties. On a daily basis, especially during the rainy days, loose gravel fly and damage cars, a problem that has become almost eternal.

All this is happening but the ministers seem to be deaf. Even if some citizens tried to donate to repair the streets of their areas with their own money, the municipality prevented them under the pretext that “the law does not allow it.”

In other countries, especially Gulf ones, senior officials, the prime minister and ministers almost always stay in public places, as not a day goes by without seeing Sheikh Mohammed bin Zayed walking around the areas of Abu Dhabi.

Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid does the same in Dubai. There are also videos being published of Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman wandering around Riyadh and closely monitoring the conditions of his people.

What is happening in Kuwait? Some Gulf brothers ask, “What is happening in Kuwait? Where were you in the past and where are you at the moment?” The truth of the matter is that the answer is confusing.

Do we say that it is the despair that the two authorities are working to bring the Kuwaitis to, or the mismanagement and horrific decline in various fields, or the wrong choices of officials and the appointment of corrupt people in administrations, or the laziness that prevails among the executive officials, who are flattered by false praise from an opportunistic beneficiary?

Almighty Allah said, “… Indeed, Allah will not change the condition of people until they change what is in themselves…”

Did the prime ministers, ministers, and even parliamentarians read this noble verse? Today, with the announcement of the formation of the new Cabinet, will Sheikh Dr. Mohammad Sabah Al-Salem and the new ministers act on this verse?

By Ahmed Al-Jarallah

Editor-in-Chief, the Arab Times

This news has been read 1981 times!