WHEN solutions are absent, the horizon gets clouded and any problem becomes a major issue.

That is why we are today living in an unprecedented state of government failure that has been inherited for decades, as a result of not resorting to realistic solutions, especially with regard to the Bedoun issue, which is putting pressure on everything in the country, especially Kuwait’s reputation abroad.

We are talking about this because it is necessary to do so. Demons have infiltrated people's daily lives. The most common phrase in society has become “He is not a Kuwaiti,” or “he is a parasite.”

Before the taint of racism afflicted some of society members, Bedoun residents lived among us with no difference shown between them and the citizens. They had even joined the army and police.

I remember the time when an official from a neighboring country was on a visit to Kuwait. He said to the late Sheikh Saad Al-Abdullah, who was then the Crown Prince and Prime Minister, "You have a category in your society whom you call Bedoun. We do not see in Kuwait a desire to grant them citizenship, so we are willing to take them and naturalize them."

The late Sheikh Saad then replied, "They live among us. What happens to the Kuwaitis happens to them. We need them and the competencies among them.”

At that time, their number did not exceed 20,000, and this was not the type that exists today. Despite this, passports were issued to them in accordance with article 17. Some of them obtained it and traveled to European countries, the United States, and even settled in Canada. Kuwait lost them after educating them in its schools and after living their lives here. However, their feeling of being "Bedoun" pushed them to leave the country.

Today, with improvised decisions, the political and electoral investments, the game of interests, and the changing mood of society, the phenomenon of discrimination and racism has spread beyond the expatriates to the Bedoun residents, and even the division between the members of Kuwaiti society, such that the criterion has become sect, tribe, family, and even the area.

Instead of developing solutions, crises are happening one after the other. The issues are snowballing, not just with the Bedoun issue, but even in state institutions. However, the Bedoun issue remains the most important, as its resolution indicates the beginning of the exit from the impasses of other problems.

That is why when the “Naturalization of the Four Thousand” law was enacted, people rejoiced. However, like everything else, it was shelved. When the Central Agency for Remedying Status of Illegal Residents put forward some realistic solutions, its president Saleh Al-Fadhala was accused of abandoning national identity.

If this fact is indicative, it indicates a closed horizon, a separation from reality, and an adaptation of approaches based on narrow interests. This is why the file has grown and turned into a snowball because the state has lost the vision for an advancement project and for exploiting all potentials for development.

Because of this, some countries celebrate the Bedoun people and grant them citizenship and passports, because they realize the importance of the added values of talent and creativity, and what it represents to the wealth of its society. On the other hand, with us the noise has become deafening. Experts and specialists who do not understand anything have come to us with words of which only the good part is heard.

In light of this complex situation, we do not know who bears responsibility. Is it the ruling house, the government, or the National Assembly? This is because there is a decision-maker who takes the nonsense of what is said in some diwaniyas and builds solutions based on that, including granting these people “full-fat” passports for a certain period in order for them to travel elsewhere, or giving those whose origin is known some money so that they travel to their country.

If we take into account what is said about the presence of 400,000 people whose nationalities are doubtful, why are the Bedoun residents not granted citizenship?! Aren't they the first?

Irrespective of the case, there must be a solution to this issue, which has been troubling Kuwait and is a disgrace to the state.

By Ahmed Al-Jarallah

Editor-in-Chief, the Arab Times