‘Deal severely with graft’
‘Leniency to harm nation’
“THE fact that there is such high number of fake certificates did not happen by accident or without occasion. The collective forgery in such an obvious way was preceded by political chaos,” columnist, general manager of Scope satellite TV channel and former
MP Talal Al-Saeed wrote for Al-Seyassah daily. “From this fact and history, we realize every Kuwaiti citizen should know that a lot of people, some time ago in parallel with the notorious Arab Spring revolutions, were intentionally involved in promoting the culture of turmoil, frustration, despair, rebellion and casting doubts on everything.
“They focused on only the negative aspects and ignored the positive ones in order to dismantle the community, kill national spirit, and promote loyalty to foreigners at the expense of loyalty to the country among the Kuwaiti citizens.
“The scheme of these people succeeded which was evident from their success in instigating some Kuwait citizens to join demonstrations and organize seminars for promoting their thought.
“Amid such an atmosphere of tension, they introduced themselves as an alternative to the incumbent regime to such an extent that they had promised the demonstrators that they will ensure the latter enjoys justice, which to them meant redistribution of the country’s wealth.
“They vowed to stand against the traditional rich families in the country, alleging that these families were involved in looting the country. They hence focused on promoting division and grudges based on class among the people of the country particularly teenagers. Anyway, they had relatively succeeded in their endeavor.
“However, they did not realize that by doing so, they would fall in the trap of the political parties. They were transformed into a vehicle for these parties as a prelude to the latter reaching political power and ultimately pulling the carpet from under their feet.
“Under such an unhealthy atmosphere where all of the state apparatuses were busy with the so-called “Arab Spring,” abnormal circumstances had paved way for the emergence of scandals related to fake certificates and money laundering. The structure of the community had changed and innovative ideas were negatively changed. This was applicable to the rules of the political game in the State of Kuwait.
“Those people were betting on the downfall of the state; however, downfall of a state of institutions is not all that easy due to which the State of Kuwait had triumphed. The phase of bringing those people to trial has started. Judicial verdicts are being issued by the competent Kuwaiti courts against those who were involved in agitating riots and turmoil including storming the premises of the National Assembly. Some of these verdicts have already been implemented, while some others are still on its way towards implementation.
“State institutions are starting to recover its healthy status in order to establish the concept of a “State of Law” and a “State of Institutions”. Such a development includes pursuing those who are involved in the scandal of fake academic certificates. The number of holders of such certificates seems unreasonable.
“Citizens also realized that those who introduce themselves as forerunners, pathfinders and heralds and call for enhancing justice and equality as well as redistribution of the country’s wealth are the ones who hold fake academic certificates. They were attempting to climb on the back of cheated people.
“Consequently, the government vehemently requested to expose the holders of fake academic certificates even on retroactive basis and refer them to the competent courts. In the meantime, the government should also pursue those who are involved in money laundering in the country and whose bank accounts had suddenly inflated.
“The government’s move in this direction will help reinstate the solemnity of the valid law. It will help ordinary citizens to feel there is a strong state that they can rely on. It will assure all people in the country that the State of Kuwait is here to stay for good.
“However, if the pressures currently imposed by some people succeed and the files of the relevant cases are shelved, this will mean that the necessary confrontation has been postponed until further notice. All the concerned parties will seize the opportunity to recover their health accordingly.”
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“It seems as though the suspicious moves that were aimed at preventing the publishing of the names of those involved in the case of fake academic certificates have begun,” columnist Dr Naji Saud
Al-Zaid wrote for Al-Qabas daily. “Such a message comes as a warning against the publishing of the names under the pretext that the country’s law allows the concerned authorities to file cases against the holders of such certificates.
“On the other hand, concise statements were issued by many officials to indicate that the names will be issued only after the relevant judicial verdicts are issued. One official also said the verdicts likely to be issued by the Court of Cassation will only determine who is guilty and who is not.
“Given the above, one should ask a newly graduated lawyer, provided he does not hold a fake certificate, about how many years it will take for the Court of Cassation to issue a verdict for the relevant cases. We know that these cases are still under investigation by the Public Prosecution and have not as yet been referred to the competent court. I think that lawyer will say the Court of Cassation will take about three to six years for issuing the final verdicts.
“This will happen even though those are quite obvious and should ideally not take a long time. The saying “The defendant is innocent until proven guilty” does not apply in these cases because their involvement are quite obvious.
“In light of the repeated statements issued by some officials in this regard, it seems clear that some attempts are currently being exerted to conceal the relevant facts in order for people to forget these cases eventually.
“As a matter of fact, a professional physician, either an ordinary doctor or surgeon, treats patients by removing the grounds of the illness, and not by treating his/her patients through mitigations or by saying, “We hope that everything will be okay”.
“The government in this case represents the physician. It is thus requested to get rid of the illness as swiftly as possible, because any countries that lack honesty and have no laws for punishing the guilty will inevitably face the same fate of those countries that ended for good along with their rulers.”
“We talk a lot about corruption but unfortunately we do not put a lot of efforts to fight corruption. People wonder why and what the reason is behind the growth of corruption when the reform operation to fight it is frozen,”Saud Al-Samaka wrote for AlSeyassah daily. “The reason for the growth of corruption is as clear as the sun in the afternoon sky. The failure of the reform operation is clear like the sun. No reform operation in Kuwait can proceed without opening two very sensitive files – the file of citizenship forgers and the file of dual citizenship holders.
“These two files include numbers estimated at hundreds of thousands of people. They are guarded by a wall of protection that no government can break into without a revolutionary change in the current approach which the government is aiming for in order to break into that wall which protects the heart of corruption.
“We know as well as the government knows through its concerned apparatuses that we have thousands of citizenship forgers and dual citizenship holders who form majority of the electorate. Therefore, they are the ones who constitute majority in the Parliament through corrupt Members of Parliament. This corrupt lot today forms a barrier that protects corrupt members and corruption. Not even the National Assembly Speaker or anyone in the government is safe when this barrier moves to remove them from office. Example of this is not very far away. Three sheikhs from the ruling family were removed by this lot through malicious interpellations.
“We are doing injustice to Kuwait and her people if we ignore these two files — the file of citizenship forgers and the file of dual citizenship holders.”
“Mohammad went to the office of Central System for Remedying Status of Stateless Residents in Ardiya area for the renewal of his security ID card but he was informed that he cannot do so because of his Iraqi origins,” Mubarak Fahad Al-Duwaila wrote for Al-Qabas daily.
“Mohammad said he is 30 years of age and was born in Kuwait. They said to him, “But your father has Iraqi origins.” He replied that his 65-year old father was also born in Kuwait. The officer then replied firmly, “All evidences affirm that your origins are from Iraq.” The young man replied confidently, “Check my file and you will see that my grandfather worked in Kuwait Oil Company in the 1940s.”
“This is one of the flagrant cases that fill thousands of files at Central System for Remedying Status of Stateless Residents which refuses to renew security cards and deprives Bedoun residents of their basic needs. Their driving licenses and passports have been withdrawn from them. They have been deprived from receiving free medical services and education at public schools. Even private schools avoid registering Bedoun children unless they renew their security cards. The same happens when they apply at the Zakat House.
“Bedoun residents do not want to renew their security cards because the new cards include information about their origins such as Iraqi origin. They are afraid that if they admit to be of Iraqi origin, they might lose their right to obtain Kuwaiti citizenship in the future. They believe some MPs came to Kuwait for the first time in the 1950s, and shortly later became MPs, and these MPs are the ones who have been calling shamelessly for lifting Kuwaiti citizenships and punishing holders of dual citizenships.
“Today, a number of senior officials are relaxing in their comfortable chairs, and boasting about their contribution to the preservation of national unity by suspending naturalization and narrowing the possibilities for Bedoun residents by forcing them to obtain passports, even fake ones, issued by other countries.
“Those responsible for the Bedoun file know that some Bedoun residents hide their passports and these people do not deserve Kuwaiti citizenship. However, they also know many Bedoun residents suffer from fabricated security bans. They know many among them were forced to obtain passports from other countries via illegal ways and ended up violating the residency laws when those passports had expired. They are neither able to renew their passports nor pay the fines for violating the residency laws. How can these people manage their life in such miserable conditions?
“Prior to the Iraqi invasion in Kuwait, the number of Bedoun residents was 120,000. The number is the same today but their hearts are filled with anger and worry about the future of their families and children.
“Those in charge of the Bedoun file are responsible for any negative reactions from the decisions they took and implemented. The saying “He threw him in the river with tied arms and asked him not to get wet” is applicable to those in charge of the Bedoun file. You prevent them from receiving medical services, education and housing services, and then ask them to stick to good behavior.”
“Great and tremendous efforts and fantastic works are reflected in the performance of Minister of Education and Higher Education Dr Hammed AlAzmi,” columnist Abdulrahman Al-Awad wrote for
Al-Sabah daily. “The minister’s performance is a manifestation of his desire to address perennial problems, improve work procedures, push the educational process forward, and produce well-educated generations with the ability to overcome difficulties.
“The minister surprises us every day with his tours, meetings and decisions to tackle loopholes in the educational system. As soon as he was appointed to the ministry, he immediately took decisions to deter students from cheating in exams.
“Apart from the above, the minister also dealt with the fake certificates issue and referred the entire file to the Public Prosecution. He received massive support for his big achievement and the reformative and corrective steps he took to combat corruption and get rid of fake certificates.”