‘Time to mull challenges’

‘Joblessness to rise’

“THE State of Kuwait said the economic policy is based on diversifying the sources of national income, reduction of the State expenditure and eventually not depending on oil as a sole source of national income,” columnist and former MP wrote for daily.

“But the question is: did the government succeed in implementing what it believes in? The answer is a big ‘No’, because this was never the case as the consecutive governments have never adopted such a mentality. To a large extent this has remained just a dream and hope because the daily policies have run contrary to this belief.

“In this connection, we say the budget of fiscal 2017 shows that the prospective deficit is likely to be in the range of KD 6.7 billion. This deficit will be covered by the Sovereign Fund or may be through treasury bonds to be issued by the government in the form of Public Debt.

“It is needless to say this situation entails that the government must hasten to review all the policies about fighting corruption. Likewise, the government must also hasten to curb the popular resolutions which were propounded by some MPs.

“In this context, I would like to point out that following the last parliamentary interpellation which was submitted by some MPs against a minister, I had calculated the proposals that were submitted by these MPs to tickle the emotions of their voters because most of these proposals look unreasonable under the current circumstances.

“Meanwhile, we would like to refer to what was reported by some of oil experts that the oil prices shall fluctuate between $35 to $60 per barrel from now on until 2020, while the State budget was calculated at the rate of $67 a barrel and this means the budget shall suffer a deficit during the next years.

“As a matter of fact, handling the State budget cannot be seen as something impossible and this has been emphasized by all reports including the foreign studies like the one that was compiled by Tony Blair (the former British prime minister) and that of McKenzie or the local reports.

“Rather, the State budget remains contingent to the creation of effective administration to deal with the administration that is capable of handling efficiently future issues and eventually avert the provisional settlements.

“In other words, dealing with the budget actually requires a firm administration that is capable of taking necessary resolutions without paying concern to the damages that are likely to befall individuals of this administration.

“In this connection, we cite the example of some other oil producing countries whose output is equal to that of ours, but it is needless to say the manner in which these countries manage their oil revenues is totally different from that of ours.

“Take for example, Norway, although this country is one of the oil producing nations, the authorities there have taken some decisions to transfer all the oil revenues into the country’s Sovereign Fund and the balance now stands at an estimated at $885 billion. This happens in a country that is free of unemployment and inflation.

“In the meantime, let us cite the example of Venezuela, another oil producing country. The authorities in Venezuela spent the oil revenues to purchase loyalty and satisfaction of some parties in a poor manner rife with corruption and as a result the rate of unemployment has shot up to about 40 percent, while the rate of inflation has shot up to 400 percent and the future of the country is bleak.

“Apart from the above, we cite the examples of some non-oil producing countries including China, South Korea and Singapore because these countries have managed to reform their situations through ambitious programs and achieved significant progress and have brightened their economies to as much as 180 degrees.

“Given the above, we suggest that it is high time for the Kuwaiti government to accept the economic challenges and deal with these challenges by finding alternative sources of income for the country, because we know the country over the next 10 years shall produce about 40,000 graduates and they will certainly need jobs.

“Such being the case, we wonder, what we have to do, particularly under the overstaffing situations in State ministries and institutions? It is a time bomb. But certainly, the problem rests in the administration. It is a humanitarian issue and we have to rise to the challenge.”

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Al-Ateeqi

“The collapse of the oil prices in the international market has resulted in the economic elite and some politicians talking not only about the diversification of sources of economy, rather they have started talking about this diversification as the need of the hour because in it rests the fate of Kuwait, its future and the future of its citizen especially under the current inappropriate regional circumstances,” columnist

wrote for daily. “In spite of the above, members of the Supreme Planning Council (SPC) have succeeded in transforming the vision of HH the Amir into a real project and promising dream. In other words, the council members have realized the objective which the consecutive governments have failed to achieve during the last 50 years.

“In this context, we refer to the Kuwait Islands Project which constitutes a semi economic city that will be in a position to polarize global investments -commercial, financial, sports, educational, touristic, cultural or medical.

“But it is needless to say translating this dream into a reality requires among other things concerted efforts for the sake of the future of our children and avert all factors that are likely to impede our administrative and economic progress.

“In this context, we say the project has yet to fall within the scope of the laws and Constitution, but the thing that drew my attention in this respect, is a statement that has been attributed to uncle Ahmed Al-Saadoun over the project in question, particularly, since we know Bu Abdulaziz (Al-Saadoun) fully realizes that the project will be in need of new laws and the latter will not be endorsed in the absence of the necessary agreement between the legislative and the executives powers and under the umbrella of the Kuwaiti Constitution, otherwise, any argument or criticism over the said project, shall remain in the framework of the Diwaniyas talks.

“But we should keep in mind that according to the economic feasibility studies, the project in question shall create hundreds of thousands of jobs and this project will open the door for both the local and foreign investments capable of implementing this type of projects at both the regional and international levels.

“In conclusion, I hope Bu Abdulaziz will familiarize himself with the Chinese experiment in Hong Kong where the authorities have successfully created a different system or the so-called ‘One State, Dual Economic System’.

“As a matter of fact entire China and its sovereignty is subjected to one Constitution, but there are some regions in the country which have their own economic system, such as Hong Kong in order to let these regions have the necessary international competitive ability, otherwise, how Hong Kong, could be transformed into an economic gate for China?

“Now this gate is deemed as the key though which China has managed to achieve tremendous economic development during the past twenty years.”

“Schools and families play key roles in community building. All studies are focused on the distribution of social responsibility between schools and families,” wrote for daily.

“A family cannot succeed in establishing high morals and benign behavior if the school does not support the family’s role in coping with social obstacles and behavioral deviations.

“At the same time, the school cannot excel in performing its educational goals and preserving social values if the family fails to participate in social building with the school, especially in view of the reality of domestic violence which has negative repercussions at social and educational levels.

“Among the latest published studies on violence in schools is a study conducted by the Department of Social and Psychological Services at Ministry of Education. The study was based on official data concerning student violence inside and outside school walls, according to sources from Ministry of Social Affairs and Labor and Ministry of Interior.

“The number of crimes recorded in schools during the period between September 2015 and April 2016 was 42. This ranged from beatings, thefts and kidnappings, as well as killing and possession of narcotic drugs, such that six crimes were recorded every six days, as per a report on Al-Qabas daily on April 15, 2017. The recorded number of total behavioral problems in private schools during the same period amounted to 430 cases (Al-Qabas daily March 15, 2017). The study showed that the cases of violence included verbal aggression towards teachers and students.

“Kuwaiti social researchers and specialists have urged Ministry of Education several times to reconsider the provision of sufficient number of Kuwaiti social specialists by providing financial incentives to attract graduates of sociology and psychology in particular. This is because it is difficult for expatriate teachers to understand all aspects of social issues in families as well as the school problems that students are facing.”

“The relations between peoples are not affected by political differences between nations; the connection of the peoples of the neighboring countries or peoples does not spoil the communication and the good relationship between peoples, whatever the differences among countries. The peoples of the Gulf states, without exception, are joined by the link of descent and history,” columnist wrote for

daily. “We regret and fear that this conflict (among the Gulf states) will develop and lead to enmity and severing of relations, and this is what can be felt through the social media means where people have been cursing or betraying each other.

“Until ‘yesterday’ we were saying that we are one family and that our Gulf is one, no matter how the differences between the countries, and even if the dispute between the neighboring countries this did not destroy the relations between peoples or interrupted communication, but remained interrelated, strong and continuous.

“The social relations of the people were not affected by state policies of the country but this crisis has affected the people more than the countries.

“There is no fear of countries devastated by conflict coming to terms but the great fear is the relationship between the components of the same people and among the general people.

“The need of the hour is to cool things down to save the Gulf, we must hasten to dissolve our differences by peaceful means, whatever the surrounding circumstances, especially as we live in a troubled waters.

“We must unite as a force to fend off foreign ambitions. However, the greater the number of enemies the greater the unity of the majority, but it is a weakness that makes the world laugh at the intellectual level, which has weakened us and made our enemies rise against us.”

“It is clear that some European countries such as France, Britain and Germany will push for a change in their tolerant image from the legal point of view under the constant state of panic caused by indiscriminate killing on the roads, markets and any unexpected place,” columnist wrote for daily.

“The security is a vital issue that cannot be disputed, and the repetition of the criminal action in certain countries has forced the public opinion, parties and the extreme right-wing groups to press for more aggressive policies against immigrants, or those of Arab and Islamic origin, either by expelling them or stripping them of their nationality.

“It is noteworthy to mention a lot has been said by the European officials in the form of hints in that direction with a clear statement on ‘Islamic terrorism’, which means that the extreme right comes to power in those countries, it will have a great effect on the decision-making policies of those countries.

“What could be the worst scenario for Muslims living in Europe is the continuation of indiscriminate killings, even after the fall of DAESH in Iraq and Syria. This means the angry statements that we hear each day will someday become the laws and will transform the most tolerant European countries into similar to Third World countries.”

— Compiled by Zaki Taleb