‘Virus threatens human race’

‘World must together counter disease’

“The Director-General of the World Health Organization (WHO) Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, was recently quoted as saying ‘The window of opportunity to contain the corona virus is still open, but I am afraid that that window is starting to narrow’,” columnist and professor at Kuwait University Political Science Department Dr. Haila Hamad Al-Mekaimi wrote for Annahar daily.

“The ‘Washington Post’ has published a report confirming that the world is facing the third wave of disease, which is the most dangerous wave that may lead to the death of 40 to 70 percent of the world’s population. The world is moving fast to a state of epidemic.

“These figures are quite alarming, but they confirm the priority of human health, which is supposed to come on the top priorities of the decision-makers during their conferences, instead of talking about increasing power of armaments and numbers related to regional hegemony.

“It confirms by the mechanisms of globalization, ease of travel, mobility and the mutual need among all members of the international family, that the problems of sustainable development are no longer a global affair, and the failure of any country to achieve advanced rates in the areas of development that include the advancement of education, women, the environment, climate change and other issues not only concerned in the Third World, but it is a problem faced by the whole world and it is through the virus.

“Although the deaths, which amounted to approximately 2,200, were all in China, the worrying problem is the rapid spread of the disease and the absence of symptoms in many of the infected cases.

“Speaking of the spread of the virus, South Korea announced that the incidence of the corona virus has quadrupled over two days, while Israel announced one woman was infected; the woman who returned from the ship docked off Japan coast, and although the tests of her examination in Japan were negative, upon her arrival in Israel, she tested positive.

“It is strange that South Korea revealed seven cases of the disease were recently detected in persons who returned from Israel.

“Meanwhile, the spread of the disease in Iran led to the discovery of cases in Lebanon and Canada that had recently returned from Iran, in addition to Saudi Arabia and the UAE announcing a number of similar cases.

“This problem in the speed of proliferation and the absence of symptoms that constitute a real challenge is threatening the human existence and stresses the need for the international community to come together to contain what is coming and which now threatens a new challenge to international security.”

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Dr. Al-Mekaimi

“The Ministry of Health did well in its handling of the file of evacuating our citizens in Iran after the emergence of several cases infected with the emerging corona virus, in order to protect them from the risk of infection, and prevent the transmission of the disease into the country,” columnist Abdurrahman Al-Awwad wrote for Al-Sabah daily.

“It is needless to say with this professionalism in bringing the Kuwaitis into their country and making arrangements to isolate them and conducting the relevant medical test, was something expected from the Ministry of Health, because we are fully aware that the Ministry has hired employees who are highly professional and their level of training is very high and as such the Ministry can deal efficiently with this type of case and this is what we have seen.

“However, the above lines represent the positive aspect in terms of dealing with the virus. But unfortunately the negative aspect is represented by the rumors that surface from time to time about cases of infection.

“But the question that may impose itself here strongly is what these people want to achieve through such rumors and their irresponsible behavior and silly attitudes.

“We suggest the ideal manner for dealing with such people is by not believing what they say or follow their malicious rumors and their baseless and provocative statements, because it is obvious these rumors are aimed at instilling fright and panic among the people.

“However, the above happens although we have seen through our naked eyes the professional manner that has been followed by the Kuwaiti Ministry of Health in terms of evacuating the Kuwaiti citizens from Iran.

“Such being the case, we suggest we must listen to the news from its official and its original sources which is the current absolute necessity and to ignore rumors and the baseless provocative gossips whose purpose is malicious.”

“Eleven virtuous women and one analyst have submitted to the Constitutional Court a constitutional challenge, calling for repeal of a law that gives the children of naturalized Kuwaitis the right to vote and stand for election, with an explicit demand to deny them leadership positions in the state!” Mubarak Fahad Al-Duwailah wrote for Al-Qabas daily.

“I do not want to repeat arguments of sponsors of the proposal to grant political rights to the children of naturalized people who got the approval in 1994. We are tired to explain the importance of the law in supporting national unity and the internal cohesion that Kuwait and its small community need, but I wonder the interest in submitting this challenge to the law today?

“What do the sponsors want of its implementation and application after more than a quarter of a century? Do we lack internal problems between us to an extent of opening one of the most dangerous fronts? Yes, it is one of the most dangerous fronts in the country and its unity and the solidarity of its people in the face of dangers they face these days.

“Is it not sufficient for the recent proposal to form a body to investigate the Kuwaiti identity, the controversy, dialogue and warning that followed those loyal to the country about the danger of the proposal to the national unity, for a group of women to present this surprising challenge?

“Our small Kuwaiti society is distinguished by not exceeding three centuries old, and all its members are of Iraqi-Iranian origin and the majority originates from the Arabian Peninsula. Its people did not grow a plant in this land, yet Allah the Almighty honors them with the family loyalty, love for the land, and their loyalty to rulers; thus, Kuwaitis are known for exemplifying cohesion and loyalty with tangible reality whenever there is an attack on Kuwait from abroad. And perhaps, the last of them is the epic of the brutal Iraqi invasion where Kuwaitis wrote the most wonderful pictures of loyalty and love for this good land.

“Today, with great regret, those who want to sabotage this beautiful image of Kuwait and Kuwaitis come to us by questioning the loyalty and belonging of a large segment of the people! Did you read the names of the government of France? Have you heard about the government of Canada? Do you know the origins of Obama, former president of the largest country in the world? Are they?! .. Are?! .. Are?! ..

“Their origins did not prevent them from assuming the highest positions in the world’s largest, most advanced, secure and stable country, so someone who tells us today to deprive a segment of Kuwaitis of leadership positions and give it only to her belly son! As if this abdominal boy descends from the sky, or the naturalized is a robot that is incomplete! Read the names of those who stole and looted the country from “hashtag to hashtag” and whose name is repeated in the corridors of the courts, you find them from the core families inside out!

“Enough of tearing down the homeland! This destructive narcissism is enough under the pretext of preserving the social fabric, which you destroyed with your suggestions and arrogance. The strange thing is that some have lost logic to the extent of accusing opponents of his extremist ideas of defending the interests of their party and leaders affected by this devastating challenge!

“Kuwait today needs everyone to be saved. Kuwait today needs every effort and sacrifice from all of its children without exception. Kuwait today cannot bear that a citizen feels that he is a deficient citizen while we ask him for all the duties! Anyone who is keen on Kuwait and the unity of its social fabric must reject any proposal that results in undermining citizen’s confidence in his homeland. If you are unable to punish those who facilitated forgiveness and permitted forgery, do not punish a country with everything in it”.

“I remember writing an article titled ‘We were not liberated’ in the early days of liberation. In that article, I had written that the liberation of Kuwait is incomplete as long as we still have prisoners in the Iraqi prisons, as well as missing people whose fate we did not know”, Waleed Al-Rujaib wrote for Al-Rai daily.

“Today I am reconfirming what I wrote. After 29 years since liberation of Kuwait from the Iraqi invasion and occupation, we have not really been liberated. If we got rid of the invasion and occupation of another country, then we did not get rid of the reasons for obstructing the progress, growth and development of our country. For 29 years, the indicators of Kuwait have been in a falling graph in all political, economic, social and cultural aspects.

“Instead of waking up from a resounding slap, some of us licked in and around the destruction and mutilation. All the poisonous things in our lives led to tampering with our national identity, inviolability of the public funds, degradation of the prestige of law, distortion of the articles and principles of the Constitution, diminishing our public and private freedoms, and distorting the culture and reputation of Kuwait; and most importantly, discrediting the practice of democracy, contrary to what we and the founding fathers like.

“The decline in the level of practice and discourse that occurred last Tuesday in the Hall of Abu AlDustour Abdullah Al-Salem within the corridors of the National Assembly surely does not represent the nation or the Kuwaiti ethics, which is known for respectful dialogue and satisfaction for the results of democracy.

“We were full of talk about government mismanagement, and we placed our hopes in the last bastions for us, which is the Parliament that represents its will. Unfortunately, it betrayed people’s trust in defending electoral and populist interests. They dashed all the hopes of the people, who waited for relief for thirty years, forgetting the deterioration that affected the pillars and components of the State. The people suffer from the deterioration of their livelihood and their rights to advanced services, education, health and well-being.

“Tampering, adapting and distorting democracy by transferring electoral votes between regions, and falsifying citizenship certificates have all been happening in collusion with corrupt officials to such an extent that corruption files have accumulated and become huge and dangerous. Some members of the National Assembly focus on the chambers to deplete the national wealth, while obtaining gifts and benefits through cheap livelihood.

“We are a few days away from the national celebrations of the Independence Day and Liberation Day of Kuwait. However, we do not feel the sweetness of victory with the celebration of the achievements and overcoming tragedy of the invasion, since we have deviated from the right track and wasted three promising decades.”

“A couple of days ago, social media users widely circulated the picture of an Egyptian expatriate’s civil ID card in which he is registered as a worker in a café but works part time at Ministry of Health as a legal researcher”, Saud Al-Samaka wrote for Al-Seyassah daily.

“He represented the ministry before the Public Prosecution. Ministry of Health denied the news through Dr Fahd Al-Najjar, the legal advisor in the office of the Minister of Health Dr Basil Al-Sabah. Dr Al-Najjar insisted that the information being circulated that one of the legal researchers works in a café is incorrect. He clarified that the employee is a lawyer and holds a bachelor’s degree in law, and has been working in the ministry on fee-for-work basis for the last five years, as a freelancer after the austerity wave.

“I don’t know whether this news is a joke or a fact? If it is true, then it undoubtedly deserves to be condemned. It has added insult to injury, according to an adage that goes – “He wanted to paint her eyes with kohl but ended up blinding her”.

“The advisor to the Minister of Health wanted to deny the news and justify the fact that the man who represented Ministry of Health in front of the Public Prosecution works based on a fee-for-work system, which is, freelance. I do not know why Ministry of Health, which is a public sector and has budget of hundreds of millions, does not have legal management. If it has, then why does it use expatriate lawyers to work on fee-for-work basis? What work does the legal team in the legal department the ministry do?”

“Even if the wage-for-work system is to be used, there are Kuwaiti jurists who possess professional craftsmanship that qualifies them to perform their work to the fullest extent. Why doesn’t the ministry use them?”

“I hope that the response will not come to us from the Public Relations Department to claim that the ministry has adopted the pay-for-work system with the aim of rationalization and saving costs.

“The information at our disposal is that two lawmakers are reputed to have set a record among their colleagues in the National Assembly for sending sick patients for overseas treatment. Their requests reportedly cost Ministry of Health hundreds of millions of dinars during the era of a former minister, who was finally convicted by a court ruling. Therefore, what will the pay-for-work system cost, Dr Basil?”

— Compiled by Zaki Taleb