KUWAIT CITY, Jan 21: Dr. Adel Al-Sabeeh’s commentary about Kuwaitization in the first episode of the “Missed Opportunities” podcast on Al-Rai’s YouTube channel with colleague Walid Al-Jassem sparked a great interaction between those who support Al-Sabeeh’s opinion and believe that absolute Kuwaitization away from competence ruined Kuwait, and others who believe priority for jobs should be given to citizens before expatriates and call for investing in education to raise the levels and competence of graduates, reports Al-Rai daily.

Al-Sabeeh had touched on the fact that absolute Kuwaitization without regard to qualifications and competence has affected the quality of service provided to both the citizens and residents. The viewers of the episode - the number of views of which exceeded tens of thousands and resulted in hundreds of comments - believe that wasta has ruined all institutions due to the failure to choose a competent Kuwaiti, and that such a ruin occurred due to lack of planning and confusion in decisions without having a clear vision for the future Kuwait. Those who were in support of his comment included those who gave examples of the preference of the majority of citizens to resort to overseas treatment over local treatment, and the trend towards private education instead of public schools.

They also highlighted the poor education level of graduates and the need for someone to teach them. They stressed that adopting competence first is one of the reasons for the progress of Europe and America. Others said arbitrary Kuwaitization would create a country without competencies, cause paralysis in civil life, and cause greater harm than benefits.

They indicated that having a strategy aimed at raising the level of education outputs, followed by a human development plan for scientific or administrative specializations, will promote the people of the country and raise their scientific readiness. On the other hand, some observers refused to agree with Al-Sabeeh’s opinion, as they believe the Kuwaiti competencies are excellent, but the problem is with the officials. They refused to give priority to expatriates at the expense of citizens