Finally a heartening law is issued
Other Voices
THE State of Kuwait, on Dec 9, 2003 had signed the United Nations ‘Convention Against Corruption’. It was followed by the issuance of Law No. 47/2006 to ratify.
Article 19 of the convention states: Each State Party shall consider adopting such legislative and other measures as may be necessary to establish as a criminal offence, when committed intentionally, the abuse of functions or position, that is, the performance of or failure to perform an act, in violation of laws, by a public official in the discharge of his or her functions, for the purpose of obtaining an undue advantage for himself or herself or for another person or entity.
After it was long overdue, and after our law and policymakers realized the repercussions following its strict enforcement, and realizing how it will touch a significant number of officials, both senior and junior in the government and the Parliament, finally the Law No. 13/2018 was issued to prohibit conflict of interest.
This law was officially published in the local newspapers on March 14, 2018, and it has since come into effect after a long wait of 15 years since the endorsement of the international convention against corruption.
However, we always have faith in the adage that says: “It’s better late than never”, and because of that, we feel relaxed now that the law has been issued and published in the gazette and enforced. Now we are waiting to see what happens to those who
The Bushes had six children. A daughter, Robin, died of leukemia in 1953 at age 3. Barbara Bush’s hair began to turn prematurely white after the shock of the girl’s death. In addition to George W. and Jeb, the other Bush children were sons Neil and Marvin and daughter Dorothy.
The Bushes married on Jan 6, 1945, and Barbara set up households in numerous cities as her husband moved from being a Texas oilman to being a member of Congress, Republican Party leader, US envoy to China and the United Nations and head of the Central Intelligence Agency.
Barbara Bush sometimes made biting remarks, particularly when she felt the need to defend her husband. One notable example came in 1984 when George H.W. Bush was seeking re-election as vice-president under Reagan, a post he held from 1981 until becoming president in 1989.
She told reporters that Geraldine Ferraro, her husband’s Democratic rival for the vice presidency, was a “4 million dollar ... I can’t say it but it rhymes with ‘rich.’” She apologized to Ferraro, the first woman running for US vice-president on a majorparty ticket.
Texas Governor Ann Richards mocked her husband at the 1988 Democratic convention — saying: “Poor George ... was born with a silver foot in his mouth” — and Barbara henceforth referred to Richards as “that woman.”
In 2012, Bush dismissed the political ambitions of US conservative darling Sarah Palin, saying: “I think she’s very happy in Alaska — and I hope she’ll stay there.”
Bush generally refused to discuss publicly her personal views on controversial topics such as abortion, an issue on which she was believed to
differ from her husband’s more conservative stance.
But during her husband’s 1992 reelection race, she told reporters that abortion and homosexuality were “personal things” that should be left out of political conventions and party platforms. “I don’t think that’s healthy for the country when anyone thinks their morals are better than anyone else’s,” she said.
Opinion polls often showed her popularity as first lady exceeding her husband’s as president. “I don’t threaten anyone,” she said. “That’s because I’m everyone’s grandma.”
A year younger than her husband, she was born Barbara Pierce on June 8, 1925, and grew up in Rye, New York. Her father was Marvin Pierce, publisher of McCall’s magazine.
She was home from boarding school in 1941 when she met her future husband at a Christmas party in Connecticut. She dropped out of prestigious Smith College to marry Bush, then a young naval aviator home on leave from World War Two.
George Bush said marrying Barbara, whom he called “Bar,” was “the thing I did right.” But the marriage nearly did not take place. While they were engaged, his bomber was shot down by the Japanese in the Pacific in 1944. He bailed out and was rescued in the ocean by a submarine crew, but his crewmates died.
“When you’re 18, you think everybody is invincible . ... I mean, that was stupid — but I knew he was going to come home. He was Superman,” she told CNN in 2003.
After leaving the White House, she found time to write her memoirs. In 1990, she authored “Millie’s Book,” a humorous look at the adventures of the family’s English springer spaniel in the White House.
In one of their last public appearances, the Bushes attended the 2017 Super Bowl in Houston, with George performing the ceremonial pregame coin flip. Only a few days before, the couple had been released from a hospital
where George had been treated for pneumonia and Barbara for bronchitis.
Funeral set for Saturday
A private funeral for Barbara Bush will be held on Saturday at a Houston church where her family has been members since the 1950s, officials said.
After the funeral at St Martin’s Episcopal Church in Houston, Bush will be buried on Saturday on the grounds of the George H.W. Bush Library and Museum at Texas A&M University in College Station, about 100 miles (160 km) away, the university said.
She will be buried beside her daughter, Robin, who died at the age of 3 after battling leukemia, the university said in a statement late on Tuesday.
First Lady Melania Trump will attend the funeral, her office said on Wednesday. The White House has not yet said whether President Donald Trump will attend.
Flags flew at half-staff at the White House and the US Capitol in Bush’s honor.
On Friday, she will lay in repose at St Martin’s, which will be open to members of the public wishing to pay their respects, the Houston church said on its website.
Reverend Russ Levinson, senior pastor at St Martin’s, told the local Fox affiliate in Houston that the church had about 250 members when the Bushes began attending services there, and would often serve coffee on Sunday mornings.
“Both of them taught in our Sunday school program. Both of them have been involved in our outreach ministries,” he said. The church has grown to about 9,300 members to become the largest Episcopal church in North America, according to its website.
Here are some quotes from the 1994 autobiography, “Barbara Bush: A Memoir.” Barbara Bush, the wife of former President George H.W.
Bush, died on Tuesday at age 92.
On her first date with Bush, in 1941:
“Poppy (Bush’s nickname) told me later that he had begged his mother to let him use the Oldsmobile that night because it had a radio and their other car did not. He was so afraid we would sit in stony silence and have nothing to say to each other. For years he has teased me that there was no silence that night and I haven’t stopped talking since. All I know is that I liked him a lot.”
On the death of their 3-year-old daughter, Robin, in 1953:
“Eventually the medicine that was controlling the leukemia caused other terrible problems. We called George, and by the time he got there after flying all night, our baby was in a coma. Her death was very peaceful. One minute she was there, and the next she was gone. I truly felt her soul go out of that beautiful little body. For one last time I combed her hair, and we held our precious little girl. I never felt the presence of God more strongly than at that moment.”
“A question I’m asked all the time:
Did anyone tell you what to do, or give you any guidelines, when your husband was in government? The answer is no. Certainly I was given advice on protocol, and occasionally on what to wear or not to wear, but, for the most part, I just depended on the manners my mother taught me.”