‘New faces who work for country’

‘Status quo to keep Kuwait in limbo’

“IT WOULD have been very important for us as Kuwaitis to carefully scrutinize the statement issued by HH the Prime Minister and the grounds for the government’s resignation,” columnist Sattam Ahmed AlJarallah wrote for Al-Seyassah daily.

“These grounds refer to the absence of ministerial cooperation and this indicates the paralytic government action which in turn paralyzed the country.

“Consequently, we suggest what we need to take into consideration is the formation of a new government that shall work in tandem with the National Assembly to accomplish development.

“In other words, the executive should not be a subject of mood and interests of the MPs and the latter should not be involved in electoral blackmailing, otherwise, we will continue to revolve in empty circles and create what we witness now – the unstable political situation.

“As a matter of fact, it is known in the State of Kuwait that during the final legislative term of every National Assembly some MPs create an atmosphere to gain more popularity or rather we see a kind of tugof-war between the two powers (the executive and the legislature) for the sake of ameliorating the positions of each party which is a waste of time.

“Apart from the above, we have observed that the legislative term that begins with the parliamentary election is consecrated to boost parliamentary positions.

“By far the MPs fail to abide by their pledges which they give during campaigning and for their part the ministers take rest when they should be doing their job.

“Given the above, the country enters a whirlpool of pledges. As such any bill to be endorsed should be subjected to the calculations of influential people at the expense of the reality and the needs of the people.

“Hence, we shift from one legislative term to another but remain at the same level of performance until we reach the final term without any tangible outcomes and then return to the same old habit of electoral blackmailing.

“However, this pattern of performance aggravates the crises in Kuwait in addition to the legislative backwardness which delays the implementation of the country’s projects which is the reason why the funds are being squan- dered and time is lost.

“In the face of all this the concerned officials from both the legislative and executive authorities fail to realize the facts because the names of some MPs are embedded in the memory of the Kuwaitis in view of the laws they have suggested and endorsed by the virtue of their efforts such as the Social Security Law and the Public Funds Protection Law, etc.

“These MPs are the ones who do not work for their personal interests but we at the moment have some MPs who know nothing but how to make personal gains. We also have ministers who consecrate their work for the same benefits and the interests of the influential people who have helped them win ministerial positions.

“This is the fact but it is the duty of every Kuwaiti to work and handle such issues through the ballot box and secondly through the popular control of the performance of the ministers, because the State of Kuwait deserves every good action and this entails that all of us should work for the sake of achieving the ‘Kuwait 2035’ vision of His Highness the Amir and transform our country into an international financial and commercial hub.

“The above can be realized only through sincere work and this means we should choose ministers and MPs of ‘achievement’, not those who block the road in front of development.”

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Al-Jarallah

“The resignation of the government is the most prominent event that has occurred during the last week,” columnist Ibrahim Al-Awadhi wrote for Al-Rai daily.

“However, this resignation was more than expected following the grilling of the Minister of Public Works and the Minister of State for Housing Affairs Jenan Ramadhan Bushehri and the interpellation which has been filed against the Deputy Premier and Minister of Interior Sheikh Khaled Al-Jarrah.

“Based on my own belief, the government resignation has been tendered to gain more time to postpone dealing with the real problem which currently faces the country.

“Meanwhile, we say this resignation means either the formation of a new government or calling for new parliamentary elections.

“In other words, this resignation has turned upside down the balance of power inside the National Assembly and this may be because some of the MPs have started perceiving the dissatisfaction of the street against the performance and the monitoring role of the legislative authority.

“Personally speaking, I doubt the above, because I do believe that the resignation is a kind of tactic for holding parliamentary elections earlier than expected to gain more time and carry the banner of reforms used to come late, which is looked upon with suspicion by some MPs.

“However, to avert any type of nervousness or may be liquidating some accumulated accounts that have surfaced throughout the tenure of the National Assembly, we suggest that the obvious and frank statement that was issued by Bushehri who was earlier a member of the Municipal Council, and advisor to the National Assembly and member of the Central Tenders Committee (CTC), she held the ministerial portfolio for three consecutive years as Minister of Communications, Minister of State for Housing Affairs and Minister of Public works.

“In spite of above after all these years of working as minister in various ministries, Bushehri had made it overtly clear that corruption is rampant and as such achieving reforms looks a hopeless case.

“Anyway, for me and for everyone else, the government resignation means nothing unless it is aimed at containing corruption and reforming the system.”

“The government faced a tsunami recently in the form of a comprehensive attack by the MPs which resulted in the resignation of the government,” Dr Ahmad Al-Husseini wrote for Al-Seyassah daily.

“Last week witnessed the MPs pushing forward and calling for the government to resign. The MPs included both supporters and opposers of the government. They agreed that the government is no longer capable of doing its task in managing the state during such a critical time on local and regional levels.

“The government had prepared a defense plan in attempt to overcome the grilling with the least amount of loss. The first round resulted in the resignation of Minister of Finance Dr Nayef Al-Hajraf without the grilling being discussed.

“The second round witnessed the discussion of the grilling filed against Minister of Public Works Dr Jinan Boushahri. That was the second step of the government’s tactic to deal with the parliamentary tsunami but it did not work. Despite the fact that Boushahri was brave enough to stand on the platform and disprove the items included in the grilling, the MPs managed to collect the needed votes for a no-confidence motion against Minister of Public Works, leading her to submit her resignation.

“She left the Abdullah Al-Salem Hall with pride about her performance and under the belief that she managed to disprove the grilling. Eventually, the government fell in the trap and ended up with submitting its resignation.

“Will the tsunami come to end or will we see new waves after the formation of a new government? Some MPs indicated that they intend to grill the upcoming Prime Minister, but others said they will wait until the new government is declared. Anyhow, there are indications that the coming phase will witness growing crises between the government and the parliament.

“I think it depends on who the upcoming Prime Minister will be. If he manages to select specialized and efficient ministers, he will be able to go forward in reaching the safe shore by the end of the fourth parliamentary term.

“I would like to express my respect to the stance of Minister of Public Works Dr Jinan Boushahri who faced the grilling bravely and was supported by facts. She decided to resign when she realized reform is no longer possible.”

“Last Sunday we read in the Al-Shahed newspaper an article (of serious consequences) under the title ‘they say’. The article points out that there are politicians and parliamentary forces who strongly ‘vouch’ for the dissolution of the National Assembly before next February to ensure there is no change in the electoral map,” columnist Owaied Al-Salili wrote for Al-Shahed daily.

“These forces are blocking the opening of the voteregistration for citizens who have reached the legal age to ensure control and domination over the next elections in the hope of returning a majority of the current MPs to the Parliament.

“This serious information confirms the malice of the politicians who want to remain put in their chairs even if it means at the expense of the new generations who are entitled to make their voices heard.

“The suspected movements and the attempts to manipulate the voting pattern as well as the forgery in the voters’ list to deprive the legal-age voters from casting their ballots confirm the necessity and significance of amending the election law, especially the second chapter of the election law without waiting for February to update the list.

“The list must be updated every year by establishing an automatic link to access the data from the Public Authority for Civil Information (PACI) to help voters’ registration on the list and putting an end to manipulators who forge these lists for the benefit of ‘a few’.”

“The Arab countries, with the exception of the Gulf states, are going through their worst phases in their long history spanning the glories of Arab civilization and the decline of the Ottoman occupation and European colonialism,” columnist Dr Abdurrahman Al-Huwail wrote for Al-Anba daily.

“They are regressing on all international benchmarks and indexes, corruption and poverty are spreading and ignorance has become deep-rooted.

“The Turkish invasion of northern Syria and the opposition facing the revolutions of Iraq and Lebanon have revealed a false understanding of the relationship between belonging to the homeland and ideological commitment.

“One of the most important teams of Sunni political Islam stood in favor of the Turkish invasion of Syria, considering that Turkey is the expected and successive Islamic Caliphate and its invasion of Syria is in its interest.

“The news agencies are circulating vague news about a meeting between the son of Iraqi spiritual leader Imam Ali Al-Sistani and Shiite leader Moqtada al-Sadr, the two reference points that were until this meeting are the two main forces supporting the revolution in Iraq, with Shiite leader Ammar Al-Hakim and under the auspices of Qasim Soleimani, commander of the Iranian Quds Force.

“During the meeting the participants agreed on the need to keep the current government in a blow to the rebels and reject their demands.”

“Patriotism and protection of the country is a priority that should not be trivialized, especially on news reported via TV channels, local newspapers and social media sites or offensive blogs,” Adel Ibrahim Al-Ibrahim wrote for Al-Anba daily.

“Here in Kuwait, the primary responsibility falls on official authorities to clarify the government position in that regard. There are official reports released by international organizations and official authorities in America, as well as interviews, meetings or statements from the press or famous politicians. They analyze the internal situations that affect image of Kuwait.

“Ministry of Foreign Affairs and its Information Ministry counterpart responded with facts in a way that refutes those claims or diplomatic reaction if it is true. I will make reference to what had happened and still happening in the domestic terrain concerning reactions from official and unofficial quarters when a presenter at Al-Arabia TV Channel offended Kuwait by depicting it in an unprofessional manner over an issue. It is fair to say that reactions on social media to the incident were overzealous, considering uncouth words against her personality and her family. The reactions betrayed natural attitude in Kuwait”.

“The success of Tunisian political empiricism – so far – does not necessarily indicate quality performance by the elected President Kais Saed. The mix up between the winning candidate and his distinguished tone of language and everything that captivates observers would change the entire perception of the Tunisian empiricism with the change of its outcome,” columnist Fahad Al-Bassam wrote for Al-Jarida daily.

“The impressive aspect toward Tunisian empiricism in this regard is that it has lot of supporters who are calling for its mimicking by other Arab countries, especially after the success of its president Kais Saed, although such supporters and promoters are far from its roots, history and its contents ideologically and politically – mostly the leftists or Muslim Brotherhood hiding behind their ‘new look’.

“In short, Tunisian empiricism is merely the accomplishment of Habib Bourguiba (former prime minister of the Republic of Tunisia) and the people of Tunisia have yet to wake up from their slumber to find themselves the ideal way.”