Tragedy or scandal of Batch 30
On May 26, 2019, the Ministry of Interior opened the door to enroll in the Saad Al-Abdullah Academy for Security Sciences for male university graduates, to become specialized officers in the future, each in his specialization.
The Military rules and logic require that the concerned authority in the ministry apply necessary procedures to sort the applicants and select the most suitable of them, including:
One: Conducting written tests to find out the applicant’s abilities.
Two: Conducting a personal interview to learn the applicant’s personality.
Three: Conducting the initial medical examination.
Four: Taking the physical fitness tests required to assume a military mission.
What happened with the applicants in the ‘thirtieth batch’ was strange and contrary to all norms and rules, as it was decided to exclude everyone from the above conditions and procedures, and to allow the good and the bad to join the institution on the strength of a lottery, so even the least qualified get selected, and even the most qualified loses his opportunity.
It is said that the reason the ministry leaders resorted to that procedure at the time was their desire to evade or avoid the interference of various parties in the appointment, or perhaps because of unknown whims. Thus, more than 1,100 applicants for the job were entered into a lottery system, 320 of whom were randomly selected, and among them inevitably a good number of those who do not meet the requirements for assuming the duties of a competent officer, in any way, and what this means is a serious security lapse. The course ended, the students graduated, and they were promoted to their new ranks as First Lieutenant, specifically on Feb 14, 2023.
Some of those who were excluded by the lottery were not satisfied with the fate they met, so they resorted to the courts, filing lawsuits, and after exactly two years, rulings were issued for them stipulating the refusal to accept the 30th batch of specialized officers, and its cancellation, abstractly, with the consequences that followed. The ruling was based on the invalidity of the admission procedures, and it included immediate entry into force, the withdrawal and cancellation of all the job privileges of these officers, and considering them as if they did not exist.
Thus, the ruling terminated the services of, and perhaps the entire future of, approximately 300 officers who graduated in that class, based on the principle of “what is built on falsehood is false.” The misfortune is that what happened with these officers, similar to what happened a while ago in the General Directorate of Experts, when a court ruling terminated the services of nearly 500 experts, due to the invalidity of the admission procedures, so history repeated the same error by the concerned department in the Ministry of Interior.
From this point of view, we request His Excellency the First Deputy Prime Minister, Minister of Interior and Acting Minister of Defense Sheikh Talal Khaled Al-Ahmad Al-Sabah, to intervene and try to contain this administrative, moral and social catastrophe, before it escalates further in an appropriate manner.
I do not really know what can be done, but His Excellency the Minister and his advisors know better than me how to avoid this matter, because the error and responsibility lie entirely with the apparatus of his ministry, and the rights of those who have been affected and oppressed must be restored to them, and those who were behind this scandal and wilful negligence in applying the rules and regulations of the Ministry must be held accountable, to ensure this will happen again in the future!