05/09/2018
05/09/2018
‘Truth in lifetime’ This is the third time I write about you although I have not met you before. With all respect to you, I say you do not need me and I don’t have to flatter you. I have got everything I want from life at this age. In a short Twitter message I have welcomed your return from overseas treatment. You returned home, disrupting your treatment to offer condolences to the families of the cadet officers who died in training. You came home to personally supervise the formation and the work of a commission of inquiry which has been formed to look into the causes of repeated unfortunate deaths at the Ali Sabah Al-Salem military college. You have shown concern which has led to reopening the investigation of past deaths and recent incidents at the college. According to the previous committees reports the deaths were natural but the reports did not meet the satisfaction of anyone, because may be they did not serve the truth. There is nothing called natural and unnatural death. Every death has a scientific medical reason that can be known through autopsy, irrespective of the age of the deceased. The reason might be heart failure, or internal bleeding, or suffocation, or the malfunction of one of the body’s internal organs, such as the liver for example, and so on. Nevertheless, you know more than others the bad experience, historically with the commissions of inquiry whose reports are often ignored because they are far from the truth and the lack of seriousness of what is contained therein, the latest of course the report that you have personally looked into ask for reopening the case. Sir, your credibility is insusceptible and still represents the hope at least for me, but your position on this investigation will represent a lot not only for the families of the martyrs, but also for the entire process of truth in Kuwait, in terms of the future commissions of inquiry, the credibility of what the high political position you occupy. The ongoing confusion is intense and the rumors are many, the accusations of negligence has enveloped many names and the arrows of suspicion point at senior officials, therefore there will be those who will work to block the investigation process and manipulate the outcome, especially there are those who say that some parliamentarians and influential personalities have intervened or mediated to accept students in the college who do not meet the prerequisites. This is a crime that cannot be hidden. We do not wish that your enforced absence would have a negative effect on the outcome of the investigation as several parties are involved in the case. It also requires that all information be provided to the Commission of Inquiry, demanding firmness and credibility in its work, providing it with all documents. This commission must also have the right to use any agency whatever its nature and summon any current or former official who has or may have a connection with the case. The Commission of Inquiry and its results will be an indication of what Kuwait will be like in future. We hope that we will not be let down because we continue to live with the hope. It is my wish before I die, inevitably after a long life, to see a government committee come out with correct decisions, and the executive authority implementing its recommendations in full. e-mail: [email protected] By Ahmad Al Sarraf