TO whom should we complain? Perhaps His Highness the Prime Minister? Or someone with direct contact to help us or listen to us?

The significance of media discourse for any country lies in its role as a cornerstone of national marketing, with transparency being paramount in addressing its people. However, it is evident that Kuwait lacks an official media strategy. Instead, each minister blows his own trumpet, so how many trumpets do we have that deserves to be blown?

Your Highness the Prime Minister, is it possible to clarify the three contradictory statements given by three ministers within a period of ten days?

One of these statements was made by the Minister of Foreign Affairs, who said, “The Kuwait Fund for Arab Economic Development works to finance development projects that contribute to serving humanity and the whole world. The number of countries borrowing from it has reached 100. The fund supports developing and least developed countries to achieve sustainable development goals.”

If this fund works to serve all of humanity, which are in fact 102 countries, through the loans it provides at a total of KD 6.69 billion, equivalent to about USD 21 billion, according to the fund’s own report, and that 25 of them have defaulted, is it possible to say to the people what benefit Kuwait gains from these loans?

In Kuwait, the infrastructure is dilapidated, the services are almost sub par, and most of the people are in debt, or banned from traveling, or persecuted.

Meanwhile, officials in the oil sector announced the discovery of an oil field with an estimate of about three billion barrels of oil, east of Failaka Island, and that it meets Kuwait’s need for gas due to which it will no longer import gas.

According to estimates, this field, based on the current oil and gas prices, could generate USD 225 billion for the state, in addition to what the rest of the fields generate.

The question here is - If these expected returns from the new field are of this size, in addition to the sovereign fund or the so-called “Future Generations Fund” - the volume of which is USD 923.45 billion based on official data, is it possible to explain how the Minister of Finance can declare that the general reserve has been deflated, and that it has fallen from KD 33.6 billion to less than KD 2 billion in ten years?” Can’t these statements be considered as riddles that must be solved?

Your Highness the Prime Minister, there is no doubt that there is a contradiction in these statements that cannot be ignored.

How can the owner of the theory of “working in silence” mourn the depletion of the general financial reserve? At the same time, the Minister of Foreign Affairs says “Our fund, which is aimed to serve the future of Kuwait and the Kuwaitis, is also aimed to serve humanity and the world, at a time when the country is blessed with financial abundance from one sovereign fund.”

There are several other funds with money, yet their existence remains largely unknown. They cannot offer citizens loans equivalent to those provided by the Kuwait Fund for Arab Economic Development. Doesn’t it seem that the officials are “playing deaf”!

As we have stated before, and reiterate now, the extent of citizens’ loans, amounting to approximately KD 1.9 billion or even two or three billion, reflects a significant challenge for the state and is also a source of various social issues.

As you know, social stability is of great importance to the prosperity of countries, which is why other Gulf countries canceled the debts of their citizens, and also worked to improve employee salaries, and then approved taxes to which no one objected.

Your Highness the Prime Minister, if the minister of the “working in silence” theory is indifferent, this is a disaster. If the Minister who is the guardian of the “Kuwait Development Fund” is bragging, then the disaster is greater.

If there is no media strategy, at least one must be put in place that indicates harmony among the ministers who move like a rudderless ship.

Of course, this does not benefit the country and its people, and arouses anger among them, because if one minister is pleased, another is frustrated, and “all is chaotic.”

That is why we beg to say - “O Allah, we do not ask you to reject the decree, but we ask you to be kind to us.”

People do not know whom to complain to, so could you help us, Your Highness the Prime Minister?

By Ahmed Al-Jarallah

Editor-in-Chief, the Arab Times