CONGRATULATIONS for the renewed confidence of His Highness the Amir on you once again. Frankly, we have a word with Your Highness, which is in fact the concerns of the majority of citizens, if not all of them.
In the science of management, a successful manager is the one who chooses competent assistants who work to achieve his directives effectively and do not put him in the line of criticism and opposition. If they are government employees, they should not take any action that could cause loss to the state or the organization that they work for.
Under the current sensitive circumstances that Kuwait, the region, and the world are going through, the country needs a figure, just one, who is not manipulated into standing for individual interests. We haven’t had that kind of a figure in recent years. Those who held that position in the past weakened its stature at the expense of the supreme interest of the state and the people, brought weakness to the government and institutions, and made room for corruption to spread.
The prime minister may not be a genius in society, economics, politics, and culture, but he must be a genius in choosing assistants, and figuring on how to manage the team he works with, and to whom he dictates his desires or dreams, which are basically the dreams and desires of the people, making sure they implement them wisely and effectively.
Kuwait, which suffers from sectarian and tribal tendencies, corruption, selfish interests and the deep state, is today more like a country that was hit by an earthquake that destroyed everything. This legacy is heavy, but there are those men who get tough when matters get rough, and not the ones who point their index fingers up and say, “Orders from above.”
Your Highness, given that all issues concern the people, there are some that preoccupy them the most. There are the ones that hidden hands work hard to show that the state is incapable of solving such issues, such as the housing welfare, as a significant segment of the citizens have been waiting for quite a while to receive their dream house.
In this regard, there are very easy solution models to follow, which Saudi Arabia, Qatar, Bahrain, Oman, the Emirates, and even Egypt and Morocco have worked on. They were very successful and solved the dilemma of housing care that grows daily in Kuwait. This is because there are still some who are investing to obstruct the success of this matter in order to pocket more and more returns. Our neighbors and brothers did not spend anything in solving this dilemma, as they were able to secure liquidity and build modern cities within a few years.
The Kuwait Credit Bank demands citizens for about three billion dinars, which are sukuk, and always argues that there is no liquidity for construction or lending. It can borrow from local or foreign banks on the basis of mortgaging those sukuk, not only with the amount it needs, but more than it, as it is not a shame to adopt plans of others.
That is why the slogan “Kuwait is different” must be eliminated, just as the government must erase from its dictionary the saying “all is well,” which was invented by lazy and hypocritical thought at the same time.
Your Highness, there is no doubt that successful education is the basis for the progress of any nation, but when those graduating from our schools and universities are illiterate, we are working to bring the country to the abyss, as no nation built on fraud and forgery in the curricula will stand up.
The most important demands of people are to live in stability and be reassured of their future. This cannot be achieved if there is a large segment of people suffering from the hardship of life, and those who fell victim to the deep state who used loans as a tool for harassment, through which physical coercion is imposed, including travel ban, cessation of services, seizure and habeas corpus just to take their daily bread.
In all countries of the world, laws compelling a person to pay what he owes have been amended. The legal rule is based on the fact that the incapacitated person cannot pay it off, and he must have a way to live from it in order for him to fulfill his dues. The government should be working on a set of simple procedures that facilitate the debtor’s payment, which is extension, stopping the cumulative interest, and not preventing him from obtaining legal services.
The majority of loans are from usurers who practice physical coercion on people. Some of them are from banks that are guaranteed by mortgages in kind. As for those who force the debtor to sign cheques without balance and use it to imprison them, they are benefiting from laws that prevailed during the time of slavery.
Your Highness, how can a closed country be built by force, while neighboring countries have turned into tourist attractions that do not require anyone to have a university degree in order to visit, or for a woman to be over fifty years of age?
In the past months, the UAE received more than 60 million tourists. The Kingdom of Saudi Arabia announced it received 24 million tourists, visitors and Umrah performers who entered during the month of Ramadan. The number could reach 30 million in the remainder of the holy month. Bahrain, Qatar and Oman receive millions of tourists every year. All of them did not stipulate impossible visiting terms and conditions similar to those of our country, Kuwait.
We do not know the reason behind this tight closure of the country, and the genius who came up with this idea. Our hotels are almost empty, and our markets depend on expatriates. What was achieved in the national product in neighboring countries during the past year alone? Some of them enriched them from the use of oil money. Here it is possible to consider the Emirati and Qatari experiences in this regard.
Saudi Arabia announced a few days ago the establishment of four industrial and investment zones, made room for investors from all over the world to work in them, and granted them many facilities. On the other hand, Kuwait is living on the glories of the past.
Your Highness, it is not possible for a country to be run by assignment and deputation, as if it has become a sterile country that does not have any of the energies that can be relied upon. Rather, assignment leads to corruption, as the assigned official will not work, either for fear of assuming responsibility, or for his certainty that whoever comes after him will destroy everything he has built.
It is necessary for you to go out to people, visit their forums and their diwaniyas, see what they say, discuss with them, hear their opinion, and explain your vision.
This is your chance; rather it is the chance of Kuwait with you. For this we say - Raise your spear, and leave the rivalries and hypocrites behind you. Work with the values you were brought up on, which were placed in you by the man of piety and conscience.
This is a message to Your Highness. There is no doubt that other messages will follow, and you have the choice to receive them in a written form or verbally.
By Ahmed Al-Jarallah
Editor-in-Chief, the Arab Times
