‘Quota system to retard govt’ — Compiled by Zaki Taleb
“YESTERDAY the government accepted the resignations of four ministers from the Cabinet,” columnist, Professor at Kuwait University Political Science Department and Assistant Undersecretary for Legal Affairs at the Ministry of Information Dr Haila Hamad Al-Mekaimi wrote for Annahar daily.
“In place of the resigned ministers, Mariam Al-Akeel, Khaled Al-Fadhel, Saad Al-Kharraz and Fahd Al-Shealah have been appointed.
“However, based on this mechanism that governs the in/out process, we have observed that the government is keeping intact the quota system to maintain the minimum level of stability.
“In this context, as long as the State of Kuwait is living a state of political stability, we presume it should be accompanied by the necessary mechanism for both the work and accomplishment in addition to achieving the ambitions and the futuristic vision.
“Here, we would like to point out that the attitude of the State of Kuwait and its international principles signify that it has won the betting in terms of confirming the importance of the culture of human development, the mediation, and the concern towards all aspects of the soft powers.
“Given the above, we wonder, why the government resorts to such a mechanism and doesn’t have the necessary courage to look at the qualified and efficient people who can achieve significant progress in dealing with the government work which the younger generation and the future generations are looking forward to.
“Referring to the parliamentary interpellation that was filed recently against HH the Prime Minister and the government fiasco in terms of dealing with the rainfall crisis, it is said to be the major reason for government reshuffle.
“But it is needless to say there are some ministers, who had failed to deal with the same crisis, but these ministers have retained their seats on the Council of Ministers and as such they have not yet tendered their resignations, rather there are some parliamentary interpellations that have been filed against them by some MPs.
“However, if the government managed to once again transform the interpellation filed against the prime minister into a secret parliamentary session, we suggest that we are still living within a mechanism that shall last for not a short period. This happens, while some government parties are still promoting ambitious talk over the future of the State of Kuwait.
“As a matter of fact, the futuristic State of Kuwait or the New State of Kuwait will not be realized through the ambitious talks only, rather the government should hasten to translate this talk into a reality and this is what all people who are concerned for the political future and public affairs still look forward to.
“In other words, the commitment to the policy of the failed quota system and the political imbalances, shall eventually lead to a state of government paralysis and this is what the government is passing through for some time. Hence, we suggest the government is in need of more courage to deal with the mechanism of decisionmaking process and the implementation of the same.”
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“On May 25, 1981 it was declared in the capital of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, Al-Riyadh, the foundation of the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) with Al-Riyadh as the seat of its Secretariat General,” columnist and ambassador Yusuf Abdullah Al-Enezi wrote for Al-Jarida daily.
“However, the idea of establishing the GCC was put forward during the historical visit of His Highness the late Amir Sheikh Jaber Al-Ahmad Al-Jaber Al-Sabah, we pray to Almighty Allah to rest his soul in peace, on May 16, 1979 when he visited Abu Dhabi, the capital of the United Arab Emirates. The UAE was founded following the withdrawal of the British from the Gulf region.
“For his part, the then president of the UAE, His Highness Sheikh Zayed Bin Sultan Al-Nahayan – we pray to Almighty Allah to rest his soul in peace – took part in the idea of founding the GCC, and all the then Gulf leaders, gave their dignified consent to the idea.
“Notwithstanding, the persistence of convening the GCC periodical summits reflects the faithfulness and sincerity of those who built the castle on deep-rooted foundations, and not on a verge of a cliff.
“In other words, the foundation of the GCC was an inevitable necessity that was dictated by history and imposed by our current reality, particularly in the absence of the salient features of the road.
“Meanwhile, we would like to pinpoint that the Gulf citizen had followed up the periodical summit of the GCC leaders that was on December 7, 2018 in Al-Riyadh where all citizens of the GCC member states were praying to Almighty Allah to help their leaders protect the GCC and keep it high above in the face of those who were plotting and conspiring against it.
“However, it seems that the salient features of the road have been missed and it has become difficult at the moment for the people to distinguish between a foe and a friend, because the one who shakes your hand today will ‘stab you in the back’ tomorrow, because values and principles have seemingly vanished and what stirs the people are their own interests.”
“What is happening today in the local media arena after the verdict of the Constitutional Court is a natural sort of political orientations within the Kuwaiti society,” columnist Mubarak Fahd Al Duwailah wrote for Al-Qabas daily.
“This small society is lively and vibrant while it is not rigid with ideas of its children, thinkers and politicians. It embraces contradictory positions of democracy within these ideas willing to watch the government controlling the two authorities without offering any consolations to the political currents or to the will of the people.
“Therefore, we have seen in the past few days all these divergent currents emanating from within. Most of the currents and political forces saw verdict as a clear violation of Articles 6 and 50 of the Constitution; the former calls for the nation to be the source of authority; the other calls for the separation of powers.
“The ruling is a clear violation of the powers of the legislative authority, which represents the nation. This opinion is strange in this ruling, which determines the unconstitutionality of the article that was adopted 55 years ago not to mention the psychological adjustment of the whole issue, how a person can be imprisoned because he participated in breaking the door handle, and in the loss of a hammer, and then if elected in the National Assembly is isolated because of the verdict issued him; because it exceeded three years and good enough to consider that the MP lost his membership based on one of the conditions of membership.
“The other team took advantage of this verdict to reveal how much hatred it has in its chest for democratic practice, expressing its desire to do so under the pretext of the intentions of the other party.
“It seems that the old conflict between the political forces and some government symbols was present strongly after the verdict, and took the form of curie and revenge! This explains the phenomenon of opening some of the old files.
“Today, what we see is a challenge facing the nation, either to accept the status quo; and therefore will open the door to revise the Constitution through the provisions of the Constitutional Court, and here we do not deny a day will come when the Constitution will be emptied of its content, and our democracy will become lame and our parliamentary life one-eyed blind, as in the Third World countries.”
“It was an honor to participate in the symposium titled, ‘Rights of Children and Social Development,’ organized by Kuwait Women Volunteering Society under the patronage of Sheikha Fadia Al-Sa’ad Al-Sabah,” columnist
Dr Haila Al-Mekaimi wrote for Annahar daily. “As part of its social responsibility, the society chose this important topic to highlight the Child Rights Law which was enacted in 2015 and to raise the awareness of the Kuwaiti society about it.
“The symposium tackled details of the law including the penalty, definition of the crime and ways to avoid committing the crime unintentionally. The symposium included the necessary variation that covered the topic thoroughly.
“Dr Seham Al-Fraih, who played a major part in making the law, kick started the symposium. Present at the event were United Nations Secretary General representative Dr Tariq Al-Shaikh and Bader Al-Ajmi who explained the articles of the law. Family consultations specialist Dr Sumaia Hemdan also participated as representative of Bahrain.
“The distinguished participation of Dr Seham AlFraih, who put violence against children into a number of categories, caught my attention. She pointed out that neglect is the source of all other forms of violence including physical, sexual, psychological and verbal. I totally agree with this opinion because when the parents neglect their child, they expose him to attacks everywhere. We have to watch our children and make sure they are away from dangerous company either at home, in school, street, club or any other place.”
“An editorial subtitle in the ‘Economist’ read as follows: ‘If the past is a foreign country, let me emigrate.’ This editorial was under the title, ‘The uses of nostalgia,’ which mentioned there is always fixation on the past when the present is disappointing or below expectation,” columnist Hassan Al-Essa wrote for Al-Jarida daily.
“While President Donald Trump vows to ‘make America great again,’ President Xi Jinping is using his ‘Chinese dream’ to banish a century of humiliation and return China to its golden age. India’s Prime Minister Narendra Modi has been celebrating its growing geopolitical weight with Hindu-nationalist revival.
“According to the article, nostalgia is a great tool in the hands of leaders to move the people. It could also be the means of rigidity and to desensitize the political culture when it dominates the awareness of people.
“Arabs are nostalgic about their golden era when Europe was in the Dark Age. Here, nostalgia comes into play to somehow console the people over the present failures, let alone the fact that nostalgia is understandable and justified.
“Here in Kuwait, we are nostalgic about the sixties and seventies when our life was relatively open and free, without the constant threats of puritanical conservatives who juggle with emotions and religious sentiments. We all yearn for a beautiful era which is not tarnished by the modernity of corruption that devastates the country.”
“The visits of envoy of His Highness the Amir Sheikh Sabah Al-Ahmad Al-Sabah, the First Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Defense Sheikh Nasser Al-Sabah, to China has been a great success, because during the visit and the previous ones strategic partnerships with largest Chinese institutions have been weaved in cooperation with the Chinese officials,” columnist Abdul Rahman AlAwwad wrote for Al-Sabah daily. “Sheikh Nasser expressed his satisfaction with the progress achieved in various fields – political, economic, investment and trade cooperation between the two countries, especially after signing of the comprehensive strategic partnership agreement as well as the operational methodology to the deals.
“Such visits by the First Deputy Prime Minister will undoubtedly advance towards sustainable development based on well-considered rules that will achieve the supreme vision of making Kuwait a financial, commercial, economic and cultural center in the entire region.
“This well-planned work and the open thinking pursued by Sheikh Nasser Al-Sabah, if it continues with the same momentum and includes all sectors in the State, we will not exaggerate to say that the country will witness a huge boom in all areas and at all levels.”
“The development of countries is measured by the level of services it provides to its people. The most important of these are the health services. When we look at the level of health services in Kuwait, we have a lot to say. The citizen suffers due to the waiting time and long queues for treatment or to receive medication. This happens in government hospitals or and clinics,” columnist
Yousef Mubarak Al-Mutairi wrote for Al-Seyassah daily. “Another inconvenience is the inadequacy of the beds in government hospitals for Kuwaitis. Can it be reasonable to have only 20 beds per 10,000 people? Is this compatible with a country with a population of more than four and a half million people? For example, there is only one hospital for the Al-Farwaniya Governorate, which has a population of one million and 190,000 until date in 2018. It is to be noted here that the population of the Capital governorate is half the population of Farwaniya.
“When we talk about the magnitude of medical errors committed by some doctors, or nurses that sometimes lead to death, we also have much to say.
“The last of these mistakes was the death of a Kuwaiti child. Yes, we are aware that the lives of people are in the hands of God Almighty, but here we talk about negligence and carelessness by some doctors or nurses in dealing with patients.
“Medical errors occur in any country in the world, but when we compare them to mistakes that happen in Kuwait, the comparison will not be in our favor. All these negativities occur in the Ministry of Health despite of the high budget allocated to it by the State. The budget reached KD 2.270 billion dinars for the fiscal year 2018/2019. This amount is sufficient to develop all health services in Kuwait, but the problem with most of the state ministries is poor planning and management.
“The biggest disaster is the rapid change of health ministers, which entangles any serious steps for development and reform. Whenever every new minister begins to implement any development plan, he is surprised that he is reshuffled or referred to retirement. Despite the mentioned negative issues, Ministry of Health witnesses a quality leap regarding to the serious steps taken to establish an integrated medical city including the entire specializations.
“I think that a citizen will refrain from seeking overseas treatment when he realizes the advisement of medical service provided in the hospitals of Kuwait. This means millions of dinars that are spent on overseas treatment will be saved.”