Reward and punishment
Recent statements of Deputy Prime Minister and Interior Minister Sheikh Mohammad AlKhaled Al-Sabah in regards to adopting the reward and punishment principle must be implemented on all government areas. Reward and punishment will give an incentive to all workers in the public sector to work hard and be serious.
The problem is that reality is different. If the interior minister is applying this principle in his ministry, it is because everybody knows that ‘Abu Khaled’ does things straight forward. He is fair with a live conscious, and it is enough that he recently passed the most difficult test that any government official may face, which is the confidence of all components of the Kuwaiti society. It is a test he passed with a large percentage that has not been achieved by a current or former official.
The interior minister is seen by me and others very clearly, and he is the safety board for anyone who wants to preserve the future of coming governments and the country’s stability. That is because the region’s circumstances, and the reflection of the sectarian crises in which we are going through and directly see the effects of need an alert and capable person, someone who can face existing problems in Kuwait.
Yet, the country is not only the interior ministry. The country is also health, education, social affairs, planning, power and public works ministries. I am almost certain that things there are different.
The airport for example is one of the worst facilities that a citizen may imagine. And despite that, the administration that heads this facility for four years, was recently given a new term, and I am still asking myself, why is this renewal despite the fact that the airport is in this shape? The same can be said about the majority of government bodies, but also with regret, matters are run personally, as contracts are signed without asking questions.
Abu Khaled, do not talk to us about reward and punishment, talk to your colleagues the ministers, because you are who you are and people trust you for your honesty. Yet, the bird is larger than the cage, and you understand enough. So, has the message been delivered? I hope so.
—Translated by Kuwait Times