‘Bring young blood for reforms’

‘Need to maintain prestige of state’

“WITH the repercussions of the current struggle against the ‘corona virus enemy’, it is necessary to focus on an important aspect related to state prestige,” columnist Ahmad Abdulhadi Al-Sadhan wrote for Al-Rai daily.

“This intense struggle represents a golden opportunity for the government to sift the situation for the better development and fix a number of previous mistakes.

“By doing so, the state will find itself before a real challenge to send the messages of solemnity messages – messages inside and outside as well.

“If there are negative errors or accumulations in previous years, they will not treat themselves by themselves,

“In other words, if some mistakes or some negative practices have occurred and accumulated over the past years, then they will treat themselves, but will increase like a rolling snowball to fall on society, and harm the interests of the country and the people.

“The chronic problems can only be fixed by firm decisions, which are based on realistic plans to serve public interest with boldness and punish the guilty because a proverb says anyone who feels that he/she is protected from punishment will behave impolitely.

“In other words, the applying of the penalties on the guilty will enable the State to maintain its solemnity and adjust the population structure in addition to punishing the visa traffickers and bridge the commercial and legislative gaps which have been exploited by them to manipulate this issue.

“Another message will be by renewing blood among state officials by removing any senior official who does not benefit the country and is an administrative, financial and administrative burden on it.

“In the meantime, the state must hasten to appoint efficient people by appointing them in leading posts away from the political quota and courtesies to satisfy the ‘Diwaniya’ people who have actually contributed to the delay in development and evolution of the country.

“Likewise, we call for curtailing the government administrative apparatus in addition to the cancellation of many authorities which have been invented, so as to say, without tangible benefit, and in turn represent, a drain and a large financial waste of the State budget, especially as we hear about the possibility of government borrowing to fill the deficit in the public budget, as well as rebuilding the oil sector and merging its companies to control them better and provide budget and more employment for citizens away from patronage in addition to actualizing the electronic government.

“We have realized in our current conditions the urgent need for digital interaction and moving away from the mountains of leaves and crowding and the troublesome bureaucracy, as well as arranging or rebuilding workers’ areas such as Jleeb Al-Shuyoukh and others, to activate the prestige of the State and also achieve social justice in general in the ministries and different agencies, and to fight electoral gains, which favor some influential people and their own interests, at the expense of the principle of the equal opportunity among the individuals of the community.

“Given the above and other reforms will increase the State prestige. We now recall and commend the work and challenge related to resisting the spread of the new Corona virus, which is represented by the cooperation of everyone in the community, citizens and residents through commitment to the partial curfew.

“In this context, we would like hereby to refer in particular to those who perform their work or volunteer directly, through the vital front line role to confront the virus, until normalcy is restored, God willing, through cooperation and after learning the lesson.

“We pray to Almighty Allah to help us.”

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Al-Sadhan

“The cases of visa traders and the fake companies which exploded recently post the spread of ‘coronavirus’, actually uncovered the volume of the problem and its associations and this was evident when a horrible number of menial workers surfaced and their respective countries refused to receive them,” columnist, the general manager of Scope Satellite TV Channel and the former MP Talal Al-Saeed wrote for Al-Seyassah daily.

“In this connection, we perceive that the media and the social media have shown their anger against visa traders and called on the concerned authorities to punishing them and this is a legitimate demand.

“But the question is, who looks at the Public Authority for Manpower (PAM) and the volume of corruption within will in fact discover that corruption has taken deep roots over a period of time where unqualified people hold positions and expatriates have played their role and this is evident as we see manipulation of files of these companies because these companies have been given more than what they deserve while others have been denied their rights because they refused to pay bribes.

“After that, corruption shifted to the so called ‘The Need Estimation Department’ and here manipulation and forgery played its role and the visa traffickers could not have acted without the help of some employees working at PAM.

“In this context, we cite the story in circulation among which indicates a farm which currently employs 300 workers. Here we question the person who estimated the need of the farm to permit this huge number of workers to be employed. Our esquire brothers working in the concerned department gave their concern to bring this number of workers for selfish interests on either side.

“Given the above, the real problem actually rests with PAM management, not in fake merchants, because none of the latter can do anything without the help of some PAM officials.

“In this context, we point out that the visa traders have a special window through which they can have access to PAM and they have their own methods to get their transactions signed and approved but those who fall in the queue are honest citizens who actually need manpower, but such citizens are denied access to the PAM offices.

“However, what the officials should know that there is no visa trader, rather a corrupt and integrated organization that begins with some employees at PAM and ends with visa traders. It is a link where everyone benefits in some of other form (bribe) or rather the cake is distributed among all elements of the relevant corrupt organization based on the role played by everyone including a ‘farrash’.

“Meanwhile, we say many work permits have been issued as per some files, although the owners of these files know nothing about the work permits.

“Consequently, we suggest the investigation should begin from inside PAM.”

“A long time ago, statements about the meeting between the former American ambassador to Kuwait Debra Jones and a group of Kuwaiti youth in Kuwait on February 15, 2010 had contradicted what was said by the ambassador and one of the enthusiastic youth present at the moment of pessimism – that Kuwait will not survive until 2020,” Dr. Modhi Abdulaziz Al-Hamoud wrote for Al-Qabas daily.

“We have today passed the first quarter of the year 2020, but the whole world including Kuwait is facing the harshest health and economic woes in the contemporary history. Thousands of people are afflicted by the pandemic or are dying. The economies of the greatest countries are declining. The money markets are falling. The world, which had become like a small village, has rolled back after every country closed its borders. The largest global alliances have cracked.

“People of the major countries are fighting for toilet paper. International piracy intensifies for masks and gloves, the prices of which do not exceed a few dinars. Weaponry and automobile factories are transformed for producing ventilators and sterilizers. The president of the most powerful country has opened the borders of his country for doctors from all over the world even though he had previously threatened to erect walls between his country and the neighboring countries.

“Our Kuwait is not an exception. Our economy suffers from low revenues after the oil prices fell to the lowest level in 18 years. Our public reserve was depleted at the time of prosperity as a result of governmental wastefulness and popular generosity of the public funds bag.

“The government and the parliament failed to save “our white penny”, and here we are heading towards borrowing during our times of difficulty. We ask God not to be in the dark. Our sovereign investment wealth is suffering from the decline in the global financial markets, and we have nothing left except for the mercy of God and the future generations fund which is facing threats by some.

“On the political level, we read about calls for the dissolution of the National Assembly, an unconstitutional solution, and the Constitution, which is our fortress, by a “historical error”, blaming all our problems on democratic practice.

“In conclusion, we would like to congratulate our dear brother Mohammad Al-Saqr for winning the presidency of Kuwait Chamber of Commerce and Industry. This is a great national responsibility and you are worthy of it. Kuwait’s economy today is in dire need of all sincere efforts, foremost of which are the efforts of KCCI to revive it. God bless you and your companions in serving this dear country.”

“Friend, colleague and our neighbor for more than 35 years Shamlan Al-Essa passed away yesterday,” columnist Professor Dr Ghanim Al-Najaar wrote for AlJarida daily.

“His last fatigue began to intensify as corona intensified, as if he was looking for something to say in this lost and unconscious time. How tired of time, despite the things! His last fatigue was nothing but a station. His love for life lasted even in the darkest of circumstances.

“A dreaded disease hit him, so we left for the United States for treatment in 2006. When the doctors told him he had only a few months to live, he was not dismayed. Rather, it seems the peaceful person was hiding within him a force that other people did not realize.

“He lived his life despite the harm. For 14 years, he lived as he liked. It seems the doctors ’estimates did not apply to a person like Shamlan. So it was, until God decided something.

“The tape of memories with him does not end. For four decades, I will choose an incident, because it reminds me of a deceased who had a great position in me, and because it restores our position on public space.

“For years, we stood together demanding for a pause. We often participated in defending public issues, promoting humanitarian positions or in solidarity with arbitrarily imprisoned people, such as Khaldoun Al-Naqeeb and Ahmad Al-Baghdadi, may God have mercy on them.

“That stance was different. There were a few of us on the Journalism Street, demanding that the street be named after one of the pillars of the press in the country, the beautiful person Muhammad Musaed Al-Saleh, may God have mercy on him.

“We thought that our gathering did not harm anyone, so we did not cut a road. We did not disturb neighbors, as there are no neighbors.”

“It is said that there was a man who lived alone. This man experienced an accident when he was young and he lost one of his feet,” columnist Abdulrahman Al-Awwad wrote for Al-Sabah daily.

“The man lived his life and was able to cope with his loss with a wooden foot. One day, he went out for a short walk in the river. As he walked, he found a man who lost the blessing of sight. When he spoke to him, he knew that he was born blind.

“The two of them tried to cross the river to go to the opposite bank. The lame one started trying, but failed, as his wooden foot impeded him. Then the blind man said to him: ‘I, my brother, also want to cross to the other side, but as you see, I am blind, and I do not see the roads in front of me.’

“The blind man turned around and said: ‘You cannot cross the river because you have one foot, while I cannot cross, because I am blind. I have never seen the river and do not know how to cross it. The only way we can cross the river is to cooperate with each other.’ The blind man agreed with the lame to carry the latter on his shoulders for them to cross the river and to guide him toward the right path. They succeeded in crossing the river.

“We can draw lessons from this famous story in terms of what we encounter from a deadly epidemic that has spread all over the world and has not excluded anyone.

“In Kuwait, we can cooperate to confront this epidemic and overcome its effects through sincere, honest and collective efforts to maintain good economic health.”

“Twenty years ago on the first of November 1999, big riots erupted in the new Khaitan area due to a quarrel between two expatriates – a Bangladeshi and an Egyptian. This resulted in disobedience and sabotage among the Egyptian community in the area, because they thought the police interfered in favor of the Bangladeshi,” columnist Abdulmohsen Joma’a wrote for Al-Jarida daily.

“Following this incident, a hundred people were wounded and a thousand protesters were arrested and then deported. The Parliament assigned a commission of inquiry headed by the late MP Sami Al-Manis to investigate the incident, determine causes and present recommendations to prevent its recurrence.

“After six months, the committee prepared a comprehensive report on the reasons and recommendations, including the need to investigate human trafficking (visa trade), accumulation of workers in certain areas for some companies to shoulder their expenses, nature of that employment, the culture of these workers and their educational level.

“The report recommended appraisal and removal of the new Khaitan area, planning for workers’ cities, reducing the employment of bachelors and those with a low educational attainment, and imposing harsher penalties on visa traders. The government agreed to vote on the recommendations.

“Today, 20 years after the report, the coronavirus crisis revealed to us in Kuwait that we have not learned anything from the past. We are still living in our mistakes which were passed on to us before and after the Iraqi invasion (1990).”

— Compiled by Zaki Taleb