PRIOR to social media, there were no secrets. Kuwait was and still is a house with multiple rooms with doors that are open to each other such that nothing was hidden from the people.
Today, with the communications revolution, news spreads among people at a lightning speed, and the comments that follow are merciless. In fact, those who choose to defend an official expose his faults more than trying to cover them up.
Therefore, His Highness the Prime Minister must realize that there is no cover, as the good and the bad deeds are exposed to the public, irrespective of whether the one posting them does it under his clear name, or chooses a fictitious name.
In this regard, Kuwaitis, after the crises they have been through, no longer trust the integrity of any official or his good conduct, and will never agree to give him their daughter for marriage. However, this is not the case in this regard, as the people see the official to be in a position to serve them and preserve their interests.
Nonetheless, a commander is aware from the beginning of the battle of the losses and gains, and what he wants. If he is seeking personal glory, people would quickly turn away from him and begin to point out his administrative and political shortcomings.
The authority’s horse wants a capable knight who does not take advantage of his influence, family or party affiliation in order to protect himself from any accountability.
The person entrusted with the interests of the state must never lose sight of the fact that he is held accountable to Allah, and then the people, and their leaders.
Either he will be remembered in history for what he accomplished, or he will have no mention at all, given that everything is preserved.
Therefore, if an official has the ability to recognize mistakes but is unable to correct them, he must admit that and leave his position so that his career is not stigmatized by defects.
There are many officials - ministers or prime ministers - who chose to step down after realizing that they were unable to exercise their responsibility, as stipulated in the law and the internal regulations of the Council of Ministers.
When the former minister of Education fell short of his responsibilities, he chose to leave. Indeed, there are ministers who chose to leave the pathetic ministerial scene before they were asked to do so, only when they felt that their presence in the position was a burden on the state and the ministry.
The choice always remains with the supreme leadership who works to achieve harmony between the requirements of the people, the executive authority, and its relationship with the legislative authority.
When an official fails, he should not make excuses. The former British Prime Minister Theresa May had resigned when she failed to remove her country from the European Union.
Likewise, the Prime Minister of the Netherlands Mark Rutte resigned due to the government’s failure to reach an agreement on the influx of refugees. The Prime Minister of New Zealand Jacinda Ardern left her position because she no longer had the energy to assume responsibility.
Hence, when the lofty speech at the opening of the current parliamentary term, delivered by His Highness the Crown Prince, held both the National Assembly and the government responsible, he only pinpointed the problem.
Despite everything that was said about the good relationship between the National Assembly and the Council of Ministers, altercations continue between the two authorities, which means things are not as rumored about their cooperation.
In all of this, Kuwait alone is paying the price in all aspects. Therefore, irrespective of the situation, nothing will change as long as the conviction is that any criticism of a failed or negligent official is considered an insult, even if the error is crystal clear.
However, blind people and those who consider themselves as scapegoats make the official look like a saint. That is why governments in Third World countries including Kuwait fail.
This mistaken view has reached all ministries and institutions, even the Amiri Diwan. A few days ago, Nazaha had published a list of the names of corrupt officials from the Amiri Diwan. They were the reason for the administrative wear and tear, and the corruption and bribery that we hear about through more than one scandal per day.
Given that what we say falls on deaf ears, citizens do not know whom to blame and whom to hold accountable. Perhaps it takes more than one cry for the executive to realize that he is a failure and he “should throw in the towel on his own.”
By Ahmed Al-Jarallah
Editor-in-Chief, the Arab Times
