Does love of control over money, influence feed the aggravation?
“MONEY and economy are the two main locomotives of politics. You will not find a political issue or crisis unless you look for those behind it and the economic motives. Most wars from the dawn of history to the present day have been primarily due to economic expansionary causes, and the colonialists in previous centuries did not move except out of a thirst for the riches of the East and the satisfaction of their desires for money and trade,” columnist Oweid AlSalili wrote for Al-Shahed daily.
“If we look closely at our internal situation and our political problems from independence until today, we will find that the love of control over money and wealth was behind these problems to varying degrees.
“The repetitive government-parliamentary conflict that has lasted for decades is considered by some as a purely political disagreement over the way to run the country, without knowing that there are economic motives and influential parties hungry for money that is driving that conflict.
“There are many examples of this, so there is no government project that appears on the scene until we see competition between the influential people to acquire it, and if one of those influential people loses that tender, he moves the media that he owns to influence the street, taking advantage of the deputies who are affiliated with them or the deputies who are deceived and who are affected by the trends of the street without knowing that they follow the plans of others.
“If we go back to local history a little, we will know how greed was and still is the real motive of those differences and their leader in many plots. In the 1960s and 1970s, the main goal of the alliance of merchants with political currents with different orientations and ideologies was protecting and strengthening their wealth and supporting their projects, and demanding privatization of the state facilities to control them so that they have the first word in controlling state affairs.
“During the eighties and nineties, one of the most prominent images of the parliamentary government conflict, despite the difficult regional security situation surrounding the country, revolved around the climate crisis and the difficult debt issue, which is a conflict based on commercial and apparent political disagreement.
“In recent years, the competition between the influential people in failing and disrupting most government projects has not stopped, for example disrupting the partnership project with the Dhow Chemical Company, obliging the state to pay a fine of two and a half billion dinars, emptying the Touristic Enterprises Company of its contents and refusing to modernize and destroy Kuwait Airways on behalf of other competing companies.
“Doubts and accusation of betrayal revolve around the Bubiyan Port and the Silk City projects and many other important state projects to explain to us the extent of the impact of that conflict in disrupting economically feasible projects that benefit the homeland and the citizen.
“He who has money and his heart is full of greed always seeks to advance his own interests at the expense of the interests of the state.”
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“While we are busy, like the people of Byzantium, with controversy instead of work, the general budget deficit grows with every passing day as is our custom in dealing with all the disasters that have gone through during which we ignored them hoping that they would disappear by time and not by action. The days proved the fatal error of that approach,” columnist Sami Al-Nisf wrote for Annahar daily.
“There is a financial deficit in the general budget that grows and it does not help to ignore or wait for the sky over Kuwait to rain gold and silver, or to dream of a permanent rise in oil prices that takes care of its solution, and we are busy with our disputes and do nothing, and also the international agencies warn against reconsidering our financial classification, and the fact that it is linked to the political blockage between the authorities, the fiscal deficit must be given priority over other matters not related to the life of the citizen.
“The state must also start with what is called de-regulation, meaning the abolition of destructive bureaucratic restrictions in Kuwait that impede investment and restrict the operation of the private sector. In this context, modern administrative systems can be imported from sister Gulf countries to replace the outdated socialist systems that we brought from Arab countries that got rid of them later.
“Consideration should also be given to dropping the restrictions that restrict the state’s granting of its public lands to developers and investors to establish factories, warehouses, tourist villages and recreational centers, and resolving housing problems far from the state’s guarantee of providing that care, or the so-called land and loan system that ends with young people tied up with loans due to the exaggeration in construction and the increase in electricity consumption and water subsidized from public funds.
“Finally, the state needs to transform government institutions, companies and other bodies from being dependent on public money to being a tributary to it through the transformation to profitability, which is the gateway to privatization.
“It is difficult to impose income taxes on individuals with the presence of corruption and poor government services.”
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“Is the world’s appreciation of eastern civilizations absent? Are models of administrative success absent in the East? Why does it look like it was struck by historical lesions? Is it true that countries in the Middle East do not know to reform and change?” columnist Dr Nada Al-Mutawwa wrote for Al-Jarida daily.
“It is not a secret to anyone that the civilization of the East was the product of the oldest national societies in history, for example, Egypt, China, Japan, Vietnam and others, from which ancient religions arose as well as the unified religious and national philosophies and ideologies. Therefore, the success stories of its development and rise are worth reading and learning.
“Will that day come for the Gulf countries to achieve administrative miracles and investment attractiveness of eastern and western countries with their historical legacy in their educational institutions?
“Why not? In the past, the Gulf achieved success and acquired the largest share in refining the commercial skills of the people in the region. This is in addition to the distinguished management of commercial ports such as Bahrain, Basra, Kuwait and Oman, before the emergence of oil. These are success stories that combined innovation with good management and a sound and fruitful investment in human resources. So, are we ready to reproduce such success stories?”