‘Expedite anti-corruption moves’

‘Shun ‘wasta’ by lawmakers’

“CHAIRMAN of the Public Authority for Combating Corruption (Nazahat – Impartiality), Chancellor Abdurrahman Al-Namash, said the completion of the draft national comprehensive strategy for integrity, transparency and anti-corruption has reached the final stage,” columnist wrote for daily.

“In a statement to the daily, he said there is no doubt that the state needs such a project in the circumstances that prevail in the state where corruption has spread to all ministries and government institutions and every day we read in local newspapers about the discovery of excesses and corruption in one of the ministries.

“The Public Prosecutor’s Office has begun its investigations with the convicted institutions, according to the referral of some corruption cases.

“These investigations showed great abuses in these ministries, which caused large financial irregularities but unfortunately, these ministries are not trying to address these abuses, as a result of which financial embezzlement have become vast and unfortunately the heroes of these embezzlement are ministers and senior officials.

“Not just that, corruption has reached even to the higher scientific and academic certificates many of which have already been detected, given the fact those who have faked the academic qualifications are entitled for financial allowances and occupy senior positions in the ministries and government institutions.

“Apart from the above, some patients who go abroad for medical treatment have benefited from financial grants and spend their vacations overseas at the expense of the government in the name medical treatment.

“The unfortunate thing is the discovery of excesses and corruption in ministries with orientations characterized by integrity and justice, such as at the Ministry of Justice and the Ministry of Awqaf and the Public Authority for Applied Education and Training (PAAET).

“However, it seems some people through his/her position and responsibility to achieve some personal benefits do not take into consideration the sublime objectives of their ministries.

“As a matter of fact, the local newspapers have exposed most of the cases of violations and corruption committed in the state ministries and institutions, and called for encountering the same, because these violations and corruptions have resulted in the government earmarking huge budgets where the provisions of the latter are disbursed to meet the requirements of illicit fields.

“The National Assembly and the Council of Ministers must play a key role in eliminating this rampant corruption in state ministries and stop the turmoil governing the appointments of unqualified people and fight the issue of wasta (favoritism) by members of the National Assembly and senior state officials.

“Apart from the above, we are looking forward to see the Public Authority for Combating Corruption (Nazahat) practicing its role and playing a neutral role in public interest by not succumbing to any pressure from any authority to prevent it from practicing its basic role and responsibility.

“It is needless to say the Kuwaitis are fully aware of cases of corruption and as such these people hold the Public Authority for Combating Corruption accountable for fighting corruption and achieving its strategic project of surmounting all forms of corruption in all of the state ministries and government institutions.

“However, it is high time for the MPs to support the project of the Public Authority for Combating Corruption to enable it to shoulder its responsibilities. In the meantime, the parliamentarians must hasten to prevent some lawmakers from using wasta in the best interests of the homeland and the citizens.”

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Al-Husseini

“It is economically known that the process of economic development is a process in which real income is increased by a continuous cumulative increase over an extended period. This increase is greater than the rate of population growth, while providing productive and social services, protecting renewable resources from pollution and preserving non-renewable resources from depletion,” columnist

wrote for daily. “In order to learn more about the process of economic development, we need to know the requirements of this economic development, and the requirements of economic development such as planning and providing the necessary data and information, and this point requires an economic cadre able to manage planning, and provide the necessary data and information.

“Apart from the above, this point requires the provision of the necessary statements and information and this requires nothing except a team of specialists who are dealing sincerely with their country’s issues and I think the State of Kuwait currently have such a strong and faithful cadre.

“The second requirement of development is the development of appropriate economic policies. This demand is linked to the first requirement. Kuwait also has economic cadres capable of sound planning and the development of sound economic policies.

“The third requirement is to provide the necessary security and stability, and this requirement exists and is available. By virtue of Almighty God, Kuwait basks in security and stability.

“The fourth requirement is actually to spread development awareness among citizens. This demand can also be provided through the dissemination of the knowledge of development and development requirements among individuals in the country to help the country join the global development.”

“The local newspapers have published the decision taken by Minister of Health to dismiss the doctor involved in the medical error that resulted in the death of a patient and then refer her to the Public Prosecution after imposing a travel ban on her, as the resumption of parliamentary sessions draw closer alongside monitoring and legislative activities,” columnist

wrote for daily. “The media circulated the minister’s statement and indicated his keen interest in ensuring the welfare of patients. All these procedures are good and have a great media impact. Nevertheless, they are considered an adopted policy in dealing with crises based on reaction and attitude without searching for the source of issues in order to find radical solutions to them, while preventing errors in advance.

“The series of medical errors will not stop with the dismissal of the doctor involved. It will continue with other doctors as long as we lack relevant legislation and procedures to avert them by learning from previous cases. We need to enforce systems adopted by countries that precede us in this field.

“I expected more integrated procedures to be taken by the ministry instead of dealing with it as individual incident. I expected a comprehensive revision of the reality of medical errors occurring either in government hospitals, medical centers or private clinics. It’s a shame we do not have accurate statistics about the number of medical errors. It is more shameful to ignore facts and hide our heads in the sand. I also expected report of the relevant committee to be published in order to study the mistakes and work hard to avoid repeating them.

“I expected a press conference to be organized where the top responsible at the ministry apologizes and provide condolences before explaining the details in a transparent manner and presenting the plan of the ministry to protect the life of the patients and preserve their safety. I think there is more to be done rather than the dismissal of the relevant doctor.”

“According to the testimonies of researchers and experts in educational affairs, all elements of the education system in Kuwait require a comprehensive change, not only the curricula, which we believe are incoherent with the modern language and do not meet the needs of the students for developing their creative, imaginative and excellence abilities,”

wrote for daily. “What we mean is to completely wipe out the system, which has been prevailing in the country for many years in terms of administration, management, guidance system, teaching and other things, and replace it with systems that are in line with the modern era so that a student, through such a system, is able to become creative in his thoughts instead of depending on memorization and indoctrination.

“The current system appears to aim at making the brain of a student a vessel into which he dumps information during exams and then forgets everything after that. It is unfortunate that this type of education continues until higher education. It is impossible to ask teachers to develop themselves while the administration and management are not heading towards developing their approach on education management. Therefore, it is necessary to have continuous developmental workshops that addresses every level of the educational domains in the country in order to develop and prosper as a whole.”

“We are absolutely not against expatriates. Whether we like it or not, they have become a part of our society. They form the majority by a ratio of 1:3”,

wrote for daily. “We are against all the wrong practices that we see and hear about every day. Despite their high numbers, we thought that power and decision are in our hands considering that we are the owners of this country. However, recent events prove the opposite, as it seems they are only the decision-makers. Behind every senior official is a secretary who has the keys to every decision they take.

“A great disaster happened when the Civil Service Commission asked a secretary to disclose the salaries of expatriate employees in the state as well as their allowances and bonuses, but he refused. If this means something, it only means expatriates control this vital institution and fear the leaking of information and knowledge concerning Kuwaiti people’s generosity towards the expatriates. They say at the time of appointment that the salary is KD 300, but when the allowances are included, the number jumps to thousands of dinars. Will the citizens be blamed if they get to know this information?”

“Since the year 2008, the term ‘political activist’ began to emerge for describing those who plan to participate in the parliamentary elections. They started appearing on satellite TV channels because of their continuous passion for media prominence even though some of them do not have any media or political background to be involved in analyzing political events,” wrote for daily.

“One among those who calls himself a ‘political activist’ was demanding an elected government, distribution of power and emergence of political parties. I asked him to give a successful Arab example of a partial system to follow, and he replied ‘The British system’. I then said to him that such a comparison is not possible.

“If we want to measure the extent of success in the presence of parties and distribution of power, we must check with societies and people with which we share similarities in customs, traditions, religion, history and culture, instead of the opposite kind such as the English system!

“The Arab culture is mainly focused on respecting only one opinion without showing consideration to varied opinions, even though we claim to respect and accept them.”

“Why was the Turkish elections the focus of the world? Did the opponents have keen interests on the Turkish elections more than the supporters? The answer to these questions is that Erdogan’s achievements are unprecedented in political, economic and social aspects, as well as in the building of institutions, cleansing of corruption and removing corrupt people,”

wrote for daily. “The secret to the Turkish success story is the molding of Turkish individuals based on noble values especially those related to work such that they become creative citizens, thanks to the creation of suitable opportunities within the framework of justice and equality. Everyone has a fair share of wealth and participation in governance.

“This favorable political climate was established on the foundations of a strong Turkish economy, making it jump from the 111th position to the 17th in the world and later to 13th, and fifth at the European level.

“According to the IMF report, the Turkish government is pushing the economy to the 10th position globally and third in the European level by 2023.

“When Erdogan was asked, “How did you manage to succeed in the management of Istanbul Municipality,” he said, “We did not steal.” Such a sentence summarizes a success story, which is a step-by-step approach until Turkey reached its current state. It is a politically, economically and militarily strong state that has imposed its respect and prestige on everyone as well as is a model of governance. Can we emulate the Turkish model?”

— Compiled by Zaki Taleb