BEFORE May 10, parliamentary pressure was being used to influence the Council of Ministers through a game of interests. As a result, when His Highness Sheikh Mishal Al-Ahmad Al-Jaber Al-Sabah made his firm decision, things changed; but the crises and problems remained the same. This is where we must be honest. Due to the significant Amiri step four months ago, the Council of Ministers was forced to switch from an executive body to a legislative workshop to carry out its reform role and draft the necessary laws.
It is common knowledge that numerous committees carry out their advisory functions concerning the legislation that requires development. However, this has not been evident until recently. It seems we have been freed from the irritation of the lawmakers, only to be confronted with yet another irritation and slow progress.
More than two years ago, I used a poetic verse that goes: “Like camels in the desert, thirsty, yet they carried water on their backs” to criticize the State’s numerous waste management practices. Although there are solutions, they are often disregarded to appease those with influence. This means that reform is merely a catchphrase.
This is evident in the financial waste on support and subsidies, or the poor medical care in the health sector in general, or services such as electricity and others; whereas the past summer months exposed their flaws. It seems that officials are more comfortable with being “thirsty”, so as not to exert effort in drinking water on the backs of camels in this dusty desert with a lot of erratic dust. We also lament the lack of pay raises and the loans that have ravaged citizens’ finances. Regarding housing care, feel free to discuss it openly.
Nothing has changed in this regard. Neither the salary increase nor the loan crisis offers any suggestions on how to break the deadlock. Furthermore, for a long time, everyone has been demanding a solution to these problems that do not cost much in terms of effort or money. For example, there should be companies in which the State and the people have a share; similar to cooperative societies, and the citizen should be the owner and consumer at the same time in the service sectors. In this manner, the large bill that the State pays in vain, without any benefit to the citizen, is reduced.
Therefore, for instance, would it not be better to have a non-public sector administration, for Jaber Hospital and other health facilities, and to employ the world’s top doctors; instead of sending citizens abroad for treatment, or the corruption practice in health insurance that has many questions marks, especially after the corruption appeared in ‘Afiya’?
Experience has proven that it was a big gate for squandering funds; and it is for the benefit of private hospitals and clinics, more than serving the pensioners. Since other Gulf states are already years ahead in reaping the benefits of contemporary legislation and boosting their overall economic and productive activities, the Council of Ministers is obligated to stop those who are trying to thwart development and its requirements.
In many countries, governments seek the private sector in the field of development, granting it land; and then the sector has to build and employ local manpower, and invest in the field in which it works
This is what Saudi Arabia and the Emirates have done; as well as the United States, Germany, France, and many other countries where corruption is almost non-existent, because they have put in place modern legislation. They do not work with quotas and favoritism. Today, the ministers of Finance, Commerce, Municipality, and the rest of the service ministries must develop executive plans to address problems in their jurisdiction. Since His Highness the Amir outlined a reform roadmap in his speech, the Council of Ministers as a whole needs to take these issues more seriously to resolve them. Otherwise, people will lose faith in the government, and the number of crises will increase.