The youths in political blocs keep on amazing us with their shiny faces and strong will prior to the elections. We have been astonished by the high cost of advertisements invading our residential areas; occupying the most strategic locations with the belief that whoever comes first, wins. They are also aware that candidates who come later do not possess such a huge budget collected by charities under the management of the Muslim Brotherhood and Salafists.

The innocent donors have never imagined that their money will end up in the pockets of the owners of advertisement companies who are making good money out of the elections; especially after the ‘clean handed’ government decided to keep the donations in order to spend the collected amount only in Kuwait, which used to be known as the ‘country of goodness’. At present, no ‘goodness’ is better than a young man or an extremist propagating the ideologies of political blocs in the 21st century.

Actually, we are leading a lifestyle similar to that of ISIS and Taliban; including the negative phenomena like prohibition of granting Kuwaiti nationality to non-Muslims, as well as celebrations which use Christian symbols like the Cross and others.

We recently witnessed a Muslim American woman taking oath before occupying her post as a judge in court. Kuwaitis would have adopted ISIS ideologies if some American citizens objected to the appointment of a Muslim woman as judge, calling on their authorities to abide by American laws and regulations. Then, we would have witnessed the Muslim Brotherhood, Salafists and followers of Welayat Al-Faqih objecting and urging America to adhere to their extremist values.

Former MP Hassan Jawhar reminds us of MPs in the good old days. They are totally different from the anti-humanitarian MPs we meet nowadays and in the recent period.

Jawhar informed us about the young men and inexperienced officials tasked to manage the Public Institution for Social Security (PIFSS).  The embezzlement crimes in PIFSS proved that these officials are so naïve, considering they failed to uncover the stealing of hundreds of millions of Kuwaiti dinars and they did not even care. Brother Fahd Al-Rashed was the hero who found out such crimes. Strangely, those who replaced him were not as clever as him. Rather, they were part of the audience that received huge money and did nothing but watch.

Al-Rai daily published an article about Jawhar on Aug 29, 2022. He revealed that the members of the Board of Directors in PIFSS are receiving a salary of KD 38,000 each; in addition to the annual bonus of KD 380,000 minimum. We do not know the exact job they do to receive such a huge amount. Maybe, their tasks include sculpting mountains along Soor Street and beyond. Some PIFSS employees have complained to me about their low salary -- less than KD 1,000 -- even if they are highly qualified while some have more than 20 years experience.

The information that Jawhar revealed astonished me, although I am aware of the embezzlement crimes committed by PIFSS supervisors who monitor the young employees. I even informed a former finance minister about such crimes, but he told me that he cannot change the situation; simply because he is one of the ministers who do not see, hear or talk. This proverb is applicable to the PIFSS officials: “Who ordered you to do and who ordered me not to do?”

By Ali Ahmed Al-Baghli

Former Minister of Oil