I LAUGHED when I read about the solution offered by the President Hugo Chavez of Venezuela — the man who has ruled the country for the past 14 years and is again contesting the presidential elections in October — to the homeless. Chavez used the deadly crisis in Venezuela affecting thousands of citizens to his advantage — families made homeless by relentless rains and flood waters and who now live in areas unsuitable for human accommodation.

The official Venezuelan TV telecast a program showing senior government officials handing over keys to residential apartments and homes to poor Venezuelans who couldn’t hold back tears of gratitude for Chavez who is seeking another presidential term in October as we have said earlier.
In Venezuela, there are 29 million people and of them about 2.7 million are homeless and badly need new houses because they are either without a shelter or because the houses they live in are unsuitable for humans or because more than one family share the same roof.
Chavez, who has ruled for 14 years, was unable to control crime — a menace which has flourished in his country, a relatively rich country.

He does not appear much in public because he is busy receiving treatment for cancer in Cuba (he often travels to Havana to receive treatment and abuse America).
He is seemingly an expert when it comes to abusing others and this reminds us of our valiant leaders — like Saddam Hussein and Muammer Gaddafi. However, Chavez now communicates with his nation through the delivery of keys to houses and apartments personally or through his ‘electoral keys’.
During the inauguration of these buildings, huge pictures of Chavez hung from rooftops and there were patriotic songs to hammer into the minds of the people that these houses were granted to the people by Chavez from his money.

However, the red-color (red is the favorite color of Chavez) keys which have been given to these people can be taken back from them any time.
One woman who is given an apartment on a coastal city was harassed by the local authorities after she hosted the critics of Chavez in her government home.
One woman police officer told the woman, ‘You cannot entertain such meetings in this house because this is the property of Chavez’. She even threatened to get her evicted if she repeated the offence.
When I read this realistic story, which was published in the Middle East newspaper in its July 18, 2012 issue, I thought at length about our local circumstances and the so-called youth demands and the demands of the majority bloc of the nullified 2012 Parliament — a constitutional monarchy and a popular prime minister and a government formed by the parliamentary majority.

Oh, Kuwait! This so-called popular government and the popular prime minister will be no different from Chavez who was born from the womb of democracy and came to power through a ballot box. Yet, it is sad to say he did not hesitate to make use of the country’s resources to cement his presidential seat and serve his personal agendas.
The politicians who contest the elections in a rich country will do anything to wrest power by spending public money not from their pockets.
Our opposition, which will allegedly form the government and select a popular prime minister, does not have statesmen like Hmoud Al-Zaid Al-Khaled or Abdulaziz Al-Saqr or Abdullatif Thanyan or Ahmad Al-Khateeb.
Our opposition members are a replica of Chavez or even worse. They will not hesitate to empty the coffers if they have to, to re-occupy the seat. Therefore, our Constitution does not allow the sons from the ruling family to contest parliamentary elections. Accordingly, the Prime Minister who is a Sheikh should not contest the elections!