07/02/2021
27834 times read
07/02/2021
27834 times read
KUWAIT is awaiting the formation of the new government, while His Highness the Prime Minister is searching for competent personalities to assume the ministerial portfolios. Many of those who were contacted turned down the offer, which means the wait will be prolonged.
On one hand the country will remain in a constitutional vacuum, and on the other, the legislative authority is also suspended. This is why the country is drowning in interpretations and speculations of the press and social media, which are filled with questions about the fate that awaits the country financially and economically, especially with the drop in the credit rating for the second time in months, and the proliferation of international reports on the decline in the public funds, which is sovereign money.
According to the viewpoints of some short-sighted experts, the sovereign fund is the avenue that can be used to cover the deficit. However, the reality is that it qualifies the state for borrowing, provided that its assets remain far from any harm.
There is much that can be said in this regard, but the most important thing is that the lack of turnout of ministers is caused by the lack of governmental stability and the weak performance that leaves many loopholes, which the MPs exploit to blackmail the Cabinet.
Therefore, corruption is more widespread instead of reform, which seems to be a constructive slogan that will never see the light as long as the solutions are still the same. The executive authority is increasingly overwhelmed by the confusion between meeting the demands of MPs, and the need to exercise its powers that it abandoned in the market of deals and is no longer able, in light of hesitation, to restore them.
In all real democracies, every authority exercises its powers without any pressure, and far from the dictations imposed to serve the interests of MPs and influential people who seek to commit violations and throw responsibility on the other authorities. Therefore, cooperation between the government and the National Assembly no longer exists in the lexicon of the two authorities, because the latter imposes what it wants on a weak government that is unable to confront one of its duties as specified by the Constitution.
Also, the MPs do not seem to be in a hurry to unleash the wheel of legislation and oversight. It seems they are comfortable with this vacuum that gives them a greater opportunity to market themselves, in light of a government that has never known how to face crises head on.
That is why the desires that the MPs declare, despite their contradiction with the Constitution and the laws in force in the country, clearly indicate a programmed demolition of the prestige of the executive authority.
For example, when they insist on a total amnesty law for the sake of three or four people who fled to Turkey to escape from final court rulings, this means that the government is unable to show the truth of the matter, given that people are taken in by the hype and the loudest voice.
As a result of this reality, everything in the country will have to wait until further notice, while the economic situation is getting worse. With the precautionary measures to confront the new strain of COVID-19, there is no doubt that the number of institutions coming to financial default and failing to pay installments of loans to banks will increase, and thus declare their bankruptcy.
The solution is deliberate decisions by a government that feels the pain of the people and does not yield to opportunistic MPs.
There are many examples in the world of heads of government who rescued their countries that had plunged into backwardness and poverty, and made them among the most powerful economies. These leaders include the Prime Minister of Singapore, the Prime Minister of Britain, the German Chancellor, and many others. Therefore, we wonder if His Highness the Prime Minister will learn from the experiences of such leaders or rather, countries.
By Ahmed Al-Jarallah
Editor-in-Chief, the Arab Times