Where are the MPS?
Not long ago one member of parliament questioned Kuwait’s minister of interior about purchases of arms from Israel. The minister denied the accusation. The story was revisited by a local Arabic daily yesterday. The headline says: “Kuwait is buying military equipment from Israel.”
We expected a spokesman from the Ministry of Interior to come out and deny the news. By the end of the day, however, there was no denial from any official. The news said that the arms were purchased through the United States Department of Defence’s logistics department which were then sold to Kuwait for a contract worth $31 million. The contract ends in 2015, the story said.
Why military deals are increasingly an underground affair? Whether the purchase is from Israel or from the moon, I think these deals should pass through a vote in parliament because they, according to my simple knowledge of rules and regulations, concern national security. They are a red line.
Why the silence then? Is the parliament existing only to grill ministers over trivial matters? If the news is published in the local mainstream press and if it is true, then I blame parliament for the negligence over this. This means MPs are not doing their job properly.
The honourable gentlemen are hyper-busy with the Dow deal and the fine of $2.2 billion paid by Kuwait. But actually the whole thing was caused by parliament when they rejected the Dow deal and forced Sheikh Nasser to cancel it. This shows how short-sighted they are. It was better off to continue with the deal rather than pay a penalty of over $2 billion. Now they started blaming each other in parliament.
I don’t know why in Kuwait we wake up to problems after they occur and we never learn from our previous mistakes, as if the things in this country happen without any future plans. Do you know why we don’t learn? Because we are arrogant and we think we know more than anybody else. We think we are a superior nation and we don’t need to learn anymore. Ignorance steps in when someone believes he knows everything. Where are the MPs now? You can’t find them when you need them.