‘Privatization not ultimate solution’
‘Human resources key to development’
“AS A matter of fact, the Sustainable Humanitarian Development means response to all basic requirements of human beings including raising the standard of living, enhancing the rate of luxurious living and developing the human potential from the social, intellectual, cultural and political point of view,” columnist Dr Bader Al-Daihani wrote for Al-Jarida daily Monday.
“In other words, the human being will remain the main point of sustainable development and this means the latter should be socially and politically comprehensive, and not confined to the aspect of sustainable economic development, because we know the latter is different from economic growth as it tends to be sometimes harmful and socially unfair.
“The real development should not overlap the communal circumstances and the phases of its economic, social and political development rather it should be product of these elements. Hence, what is suitable for one country cannot necessarily be suitable for another.
“Speaking of undertaking the blanket and sustainable humanitarian development, this actually falls within the government’s responsibility where the role of each sector should be specified during the process of implementation of the development plans including the private sector on the understanding that the latter plays a productive and actual role to give boost to the relevant country’s development instead of becoming a burden on the shoulders of the government.
“In other words, the private sector must play its role in the comprehensive sustainable humanitarian development process, but it is needless to say this role is different from one country to another.
“This role is likely to be specified by the relevant government taking into account the nature of the said sector, its growth level, its contribution to the gross national production (GNP), its ability to provide more job opportunities and its readiness to protect the environment.
“But the exaggerating and unrealistic talks about the role of the Kuwaiti private sector and its main role in the country’s development process, is rife with the emotional aspect that has been dictated by special interests and obvious social bias, because the private sector of Kuwait and that of the other Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) States in general is totally different from that of the United States of America, the European Union (EU) and Japan, for instance, where the nature and the volume of the latter is completely different from that of the former. Moreover, the social fabric and the political and economic structure in the West and Japan are different from that of the GCC countries.
“Based on the above, the Kuwaiti government concentrating on its economic document which calls for awarding everything to the private sector in the name of ‘privatization is the solution’ taking into account the nature of the said sector, its structure, volume and circumstances, looks unrealistic, because this logic is based on cloning the experiment of the so-called new liberalism although the latter is not commensurate with our economic, social and political reality.
“In other words, we can’t hold a comparison between a weak private sector that is exempt from taxes but mostly depends on the financial and real estate bargaining, family companies, foreign imports, commercial agencies, service sector and the government expenditure and subsidy with the productive private sector of the industrial, capitalistic and developed democratic countries, because the latter depends on itself and money of the taxpayer and its role in creating the job opportunities in the relevant countries.”
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“It is needless to say the issue of menial manpower can be classified as very dangerous at all levels. In other words, this problem doesn’t only represent just a defect in the demographic structure that can be handled as some people believe,” columnist Tariq Boresli wrote for Al-Anba daily daily Monday.
“In Kuwait, for instance, we have at the moment as many as one million expatriates who currently fall in the category of menial workers given the fact these workers are not involved in a real job, rather they have bought visas from fake companies and visa traffickers and as such they entered the country illegally.
“One million menial workforce means the latter constitute one third of the country’s population. This phenomenon should not be ignored. This figure, however, has not come from vacuum rather it has been derived from official statistics that were issued about three years ago by Ministry of Social Affairs and Labor during the reign of the then minister Zikra Ayed Al-Rashidi.
“This statistic has come in the context of Al-Rashidi’s decoration of the then government plan that was aimed at handling the menial workforce phenomenon where the number of this workforce during that time was one million expatriates.
“Not just that, she had declared that the government was planning to get rid of one hundred thousand expatriates (menial workforce) per annum over the next ten years.
“It is needless to say the government declaration about three years ago actually represented an implicit confession by the government of the volume of real disaster represented by the existence of one million menial workers in the country and how it hurt the interests of Kuwait, particularly in the fields of economy, security and health services, particularly since we know that the official statistics show the menial workforce in the country depletes as much as 10 percent of the State’s gross national product. In other words, this 10 percent was from the State’s annual income.
“Let us imagine that Kuwait’s annual income is KD 36 billion and the menial workforce in the country will deplete as much as 10 percent of this money, which means KD 3.6 billion or more than $11 billion every year. This happens although this type of workforce produces nothing for the country but constitutes a burden on the State rendered services including the health.
“However, the necessary solutions for dealing with the problem of menial workforce was made available and we do not need any new legislation or laws to handle this issue, particularly since we know Al-Rashidi had proposed the necessary solution to curtail the foreign workforce in the country which negatively affects Kuwait by getting rid of as much as 10 percent on annual basis, but unfortunately we found some people waging a fierce attack on the government when it was striving to deport the menial workers.
“In this context, we suggest the deportation of menial workers should actually be supported by enacting another legislation to punish the visa traffickers and nullification of the sponsorship system in the country because the above suggested actions will be enough to contain the phenomenon of menial workforce in the country for good and contribute to the revision of its demographic structure.
“Given the above, some will believe I am racist because of my request to deport one million expatriates, but in fact I am calling for applying the law and rectifying the demographic equation for the good of Kuwait, given the fact anybody who calls for applying the law should not be called racist, particularly since we know that the government itself has repeatedly confessed of the danger posed by menial workers in the country. Moreover, many of these menial workers are involved in thefts and smuggling of drugs and contrabands into the country.”
“The drastic economic measures taken by Venezuela due to the falling oil prices are disastrous for the citizens of that country. We hope the government will learn lessons from those measures and avoid taking extemporary decisions,” Ahmad Al-Dawwas wrote for Al-Seyassah daily.
“Bad government administration in Venezuela has led to economic collapse due to which the country is now living in chaos and social catastrophe. It is known that Venezuela adopted the socialist economic template by nationalizing food manufacturing and farmland sectors. Corruption has led to insufficiency of commodities and medicine to such an extent that citizens have to stand in long queues in front of supermarkets to purchase milk, food and detergents before the shelves are emptied out within a short time after the commodities are put up for sale.
“They also spend long hours in front of pharmaceutical stores. Some of them even die due to difficulty faced in getting medicine. Lack of security is so prevalent that the people there return home before 6 pm to avoid the robbers in the neighborhood.
“Due to this, the government should stop spending huge amounts for useless purposes. Also, our government should keenly follow the situation in Venezuela and learn lessons from economic experiences of other countries.”
“While admiring Saudi Arabia’s Vision 2030, I opened our local newspapers to read that our respected parliament agreed to start its session by discussing the issue of gravel on the roads,” columnist Iqbal Al-Ahmad wrote for Al-Qabas daily.
“Should I kill myself? Seriously, is this the priority of the National Assembly these days? What is wrong with you guys? The state is going with the wind, taking all of us with it. Please wake up!
“I really expected the parliament to discuss the plan for future development of the country and try to find answers to the questions that citizens have been asking. The issue of loose gravel can be easily solved by just a single decision from the relevant minister. It makes us almost cry when we see the achievements being realized on a daily basis by our neighboring countries.
“I am certain many of the MPs in Kuwait has never heard of the term ‘quick fix’ which Sheikh Mohammad bin Salman had used several times when presenting the Future Vision of Saudi Arabia 2030. There are many issues that need quick reform.
“Honestly, I hate to start your day by talking about such depressing matter. Nevertheless, I believe the first step towards recovery is feeling the pain and requesting for the medicine.”
“One of the most important aspects about the US presidential elections this year is the rise of prominence of the millionaire candidate Donald Trump who has broken all electoral obstacles and is gaining ground and American votes to win the presidency,” Abdulmohsen
Yousef Jamal wrote for Al-Qabas daily. “Donald Trump has become a distinctive phenomenon in the elections based on the fact that he is not from the traditional political elite represented by the politicians of Washington and American Congress.
“A normal successful businessman like Trump has stormed the political arena by expressing his views strongly and bringing political chaos for everyone in his way. Political analysts had written him off in the beginning and did not expect him to come this far but Trump surprised them all by winning the Republican votes and knocking off his rivals one after the other until he was finally declared as the ‘Republican nominee’.
“Despite the fact that most of the Republican members were against him, he did not depend on them. He funded his own campaigns and skillfully and directly talked to the masses and earned their trust.
“To those who have been following the elections, they will notice that Trump has recorded new rules for the presidential elections, irrespective of whether he wins the elections or not. Politics is definitely a complicated game.”
“Whenever a crime is committed in Kuwait, we usually hear the defense lawyers saying that the suspect is psychotic or mentally ill. They exert tremendous efforts to reduce the expected sentence or manipulate public opinion in order to gain sympathy for the accused. Many cases can be cited as examples of this phenomenon. Lately, we saw efforts to refer to psychosis in some cases like the Abdally Cell, the killing of a woman in Salwa and the killing of martyr Al-Enzy,” columnist Muhammad Al
Jalahima wrote for Al Anba daily. “Not only that, psychiatry has become a means for prolonging trials. We find that a case, which can be completed in a year, takes more time. It has become a burden on judges as they have to sit in many sessions, more than the regular sessions for a particular case.
“It is not possible to keep on citing psychological problems as a way to evade the law. Therefore, the sitting judges must review cases to make sure those citing psychosis are real patients, not evaders of justice.”
“The security apparatus is facing enormous challenges, considering their massive responsibilities and the need to cleanse the country from lawbreakers, jobless people, wanted persons and gangsters that are always on rampage- especially in the theft of cables and transformers,” Talal
Al-Saeed wrote for Al-Seyassah daily. “The operatives also have to contend with the operators of bogus domestic recruitment offices and various types of stealing- particularly impersonating police officers to dispossess unsuspecting victims of their valuables at knife points, which is not strange in a country where expatriates cover three quarters of the population.
“The majority of expatriates are victims of visa traders and bogus companies that throw them on the streets where they end up perpetrating criminal activities.
“Al-Seyassah newspaper published a story on its first page in yesterday’s edition related to more dangerous responsibilities and plans by certain foreign groups to execute heinous actions in Kuwait in the holy month of Ramadan through their cells under various pseudonyms. The story should be a timely warning before it’s too late”.
“The recent statement made by Nicola de Santis, Head of the Middle East and North Africa Section in the Political Affairs and Security Policy Division of the NATO Headquarters in Brussels, about the importance of Arab countries in monitoring a new wave of revolutions due to failure of rectifying economic and social disorders, must be read carefully and contemplated on,” columnist Dr Haila Hamad Mekaimi wrote for Al-Nahar daily.
“From time to time, Western politicians launch several warnings but after some time, these warnings could become reality due to failure to take them seriously from the very first day. As such, governments end up dealing with these warnings as reactions rather than preemptively. Under such circumstances, even the simplest challenge becomes difficult to deal with, especially in life’s important aspects.
“The advent of new Arab revolutions has been marked by Western powers in the Arab world under the pretext of fighting terrorism and organizations engaged in terrorist acts. Previous attempts to fight these groups failed dramatically despite the funds and manpower allocated for combating terrorism. “In terms of these warnings, there is an opportunity to detect and anticipate the incident before it is too late. Most of the people have been demanding for better living standards and protection of their dignity and freedom.
“In spite of the shallowness of the warning, its implications, as far as the Western politics is concerned, could be damaging. It is then up to the Arab leaders to focus on ensuring balance between people through fair distribution of wealth, opportunities and services, in addition to expanding the domain of freedom.”