WE start by asking, just like others who are asking - What does Kuwait benefit from preventing pregnant women from entering the country, and not allowing those who have reached the age of 60 years to obtain a visit visa? Does this help in reviving the economic movement in the country? Who invented this idea that indicates a lack of knowledge of what benefits the country?
Did those concerned with this decision meet the hotel owners and commercial establishments to inquire or at least learn from them about what stimulates the economic movement? Or was it a joke that was cracked in a diwaniya about the idea of banning pregnant women, in which the joke was a comment on the suspension of visit visa, but the concerned official took that joke seriously, because it was made in an “active” diwaniya? Whoever recommended this thought he had nailed it, but he missed to specify in which trimester should the ban be imposed.
In this regard, here is a fact - Whoever wants to visit Kuwait must buy a ticket, stay in a hotel, spend money, use taxis, and many other benefits that accrue to the national economy. Also, this visitor may be looking to explore investment opportunities in the country, even if he is 60 or 65 years old, and has much more experience than those with university degrees, or being a doctor. Perhaps, this person was told that the traditional Kuwaiti food and the silver pomfret are considered as medicine for many diseases that people suffer from.
Nonetheless, we still beg to ask about the wisdom behind this condition, which is a unique invention of Kuwait, which no other country in the world imposes such a condition on visitors. Also, in this regard, the concerned authority did not specify which university certificate a visa applicant in question should have. Is it for fishing fish or shrimp, cooking or frying? This is because whoever invented this formula must be a doctor in the science of law, economics, and investments, or believes that Kuwait is a “Garden of Eden” where only holders of degrees and non-pregnant women can enter.
In any case, thanks to His Highness the First Deputy and Minister of Interior Sheikh Talal Al-Khalid for suspending this decision, as this decision indicates the extent of backwardness that pervades state institutions, as if no one realizes the harm that Kuwait sustains from such decisions, or benefits. It is also for this reason that matters are only solved once they happen. In the past 20 years, decisions were issued that made Kuwait the laughing stock of the world, especially the Gulf countries.
At a time when the world is opening up to each other, countries are seeking to stimulate their tourism movement, and billions of dollars annually enter their domestic product, Kuwait continues to do the opposite. Its “short-sighted” consultants come up with decisions that do not ride on the rainbow, and do not cross the minds of young children. In the end, the country groans from the economic pains that it suffers from due to old age, after some officials closed it with a “padlock and key.”
Is it with such a backward mentality that Kuwait plans to compete with neighboring countries to become a global financial and commercial center? Is it not in all the Gulf countries that are more prosperous than Kuwait that manages industries and trade, and the majority of facilities are foreigners residing in them?
Do they not help in strengthening the economies of those countries? Whoever believes the saying that “Kuwait is different” and works according to it is the one who seeks more backwardness of the state. For this reason, why don’t you close all the ports, expel the residents, or raise a banner on the ports - “O women of the world, if you want to visit Kuwait, abort your pregnancy”?
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By Ahmed Al-Jarallah
Editor-in-Chief, the Arab Times
