IT is no secret that the current leadership is exerting every effort to restore Kuwait’s pioneership, and is working on mending the damage caused by practices that fell short of the desired standards and have persisted over the past three decades. This happened when the governments turned a blind eye to corruption, and made accountability selective according to personal mood to settle scores, or allowed the corrupt to flee abroad, or removed them from their positions without issuing any punishment. There is no doubt that anyone who follows the speeches of His Highness the Amir, hears his words during his private meetings, and studies his decisions, will realize that his first goal is to restore Kuwait’s renaissance and make it a leader in the region as it was in the past.

There was a time when Kuwait was a factory of successful ideas, initiatives and plans. At that time, it had benefited from everything new in the world and distributed wealth according to justice. It was considered an example in the region and was up to the the ranks of the vanguard countries in the renaissance, especially the Gulf ones that took Kuwait’s ideas and implemented them.

There is no doubt that this requires the presence of officials in all positions, including ministers and administrators, to serve the mission for which they were chosen without considering it as an honor or prestige, and without abusing it, but instead performing their duty towards their country with full dedication and responsibility.

From this standpoint, the leadership has committed itself to putting the right man in the right place, and not deviating from what is required of him, as well as not fearing the critics as long as he is on the right path. However, if he violates that, he reprimands himself before anyone else. There is also a conviction that many of the bodies and institutions existed for benefits and nothing more, and some of them for personal influence and control over the interests of the country. For this reason, they have become hotbeds of corruption.

In fact, they were established for this goal, because of which systematic plundering has spread in them. It has even reached sites that were considered the guardians of the state’s supreme interests, but eventually transformed into open arenas for all forms of irresponsible practices. Therefore, it was not surprising that ministers and officials fled abroad with hundreds of millions of dinars. It was also not surprising that the rule of “finders-keepers” became prevalent in all institutions.

This is why when a citizen asks, “What did we benefit from the hundreds of officials who held successive positions? What did they leave for Kuwait?”, the leadership has no choice but to acknowledge that 30 years have been wasted either due to lack of management, or because there are those who consider Kuwait as merely Ali Baba’s Cave whose doors are open to all thieves. This exceptional situation is recognized by the leadership, which is why the leadership started with itself, its household, and its large family. This is based on its conviction that “injustice by rendering everyone equal is justice” and to treat everyone equally and not discriminate against them. Otherwise, it would mean returning to the corrupt custom that almost destroyed Kuwait and its people.

That is why, the leadership, from the first day of assuming power, was clear in declaring its ambition, which was supported by all Kuwaitis, who aspire, just like their leadership, to always see their country as the best. Therefore, His Highness’s speeches were clear in terms of not returning to the past era, regardless of the reasons, even if it was through painful surgical operations. This is because time is quickly running out, and international and regional circumstances will not allow any failed experiments. Therefore, we have a few months ahead of us with lots of changes.

By Ahmed Al-Jarallah
Editor-in-Chief, the Arab Times
[email protected]