‘Make people active partner in running the government’
“THE government’s work program is between constructivism and realism … A smart government knows how to communicate and interact with the public, as well as monitor trends, opinions and reactions to benefit from the good ones and invest in them to improve its performance and productivity on one hand, and gain realistic insight into the most important needs of citizens and their aspirations in various aspects of their lives on the other hand,” media consultant
Abdul Rahman
Al-Misfer wrote for Al-Seyassah daily.
“His Highness the Prime Minister Sheikh Mohammad Sabah
Al-Salem AlSabah expressed his hope that the work program of the new government will realize the aspirations of the Kuwaiti people and gain their satisfaction.
“Logically, this requires knowing the citizens’ priorities, the challenges and issues that concern them. In this manner, the program is in line with the needs of the public. It become realistic and practical, far from the constructive and theorizing approach that was one of the characteristics of the work programs of most of the previous governments, making it difficult to implement the programs.
“This prompts us to raise this worthy question and place it under the gaze of His Highness Sheikh Mohammad Al-Sabah: Why do you not make the Kuwaiti people, who I hope will be satisfied with the upcoming government work program, an active partner in weaving the ideas and contents of this program?
“The method for achieving this partnership is simple and technically available. For example, an icon can be placed in the ‘Sahel’ platform with the title, ‘Share an idea to create a work program that meets your aspirations’. This title shall come with various points like social, economic, educational, health and cultural. Thus, everyone can make his contribution to various fields.
“It is also possible to develop general questionnaires to explore opinions, analyze them later and extract commonalities between them. Indeed, the issue does not stop there, as it rather takes an encouraging dimension by granting a lucrative financial reward accompanied by honoring deep and distinguished contributions. In this way, we actually change the approach in dealing with the government work program file.
“This leads us to opening the horizons of thinking outside the box and soaring into the worlds of creativity and the genius of non-standard treatment. Today, we need bright national minds that contribute to correcting the course and creating true leadership for this country and its nation. I believe that His Highness Sheikh Mohammad Al-Sabah can create this climate to attract talent and push them to unleash their energies in the field of positive national competition to move the wheel of achievements and transformations with tangible and beneficial effects.
“His Highness the Prime Minister, the government’s work program is supposed to be an arena for proactive intellectual exchange with the legislative authority, to present its perspective towards by way of seeking the views of its members. It is also important to involve the elites, academicians, public benefit associations, unions and others. The government agencies and bodies will be the final stop within which all sound ideas and opinions will crystallize.
“Here, we can say that the Kuwaiti people truly formulated the government’s action program, to be a mirror of what they want and desire. With such steps, initiatives and effective partnership between the government and society, the great equation of advancement will be achieved. We will then enter the space of leadership in the Arab and Islamic regions… better than ever.”
Also:
“I liked the saying, ‘Speak so I can see you’ and I liked it very much and stopped at this saying a lot, because of the depth of understanding it contains, and not rushing to prejudge those we hear about and meet for the first time,” columnist Iqbal Al-Ahmad wrote for Al-Qabas daily.
“Beauty is often the measure of initial opinion about a woman, as her beauty is what attracts the attention of the majority, before the meeting or conversation develops, even if it is sideways.
“When a person describes a woman he saw as beautiful only, this opinion is often an initial image that determines the acceptance of this woman. This also applies to a man, when the judgment is based on external appearance only.
“When Socrates said: ‘Speak so that I may see you,’ it has a very deep meaning, which is that the components inside a person, whether in the style of speech, culture, intelligence, or acumen, are criteria among many other criteria that determine the true image of this person.
“This often causes many people to be shocked by some people, whom they previously had an idea about, which may reach a stage of contradiction with the real picture, after a few minutes of sitting with them and talking to them.
“The external appearance of beauty, body and elegance are just cheap paint that does not last a moment with a few words exchanged between a person and whoever sits in front of him, whether a man or a woman.
“These coatings quickly fade and disappear if this person is insignificant and empty on the inside, because the depth of the person is what remains with him and endures, no matter how simple the temptations of the external appearance are.
This makes it imperative for us, as people, to pay attention to this depth and add it day after day, in a way that strengthens our personalities, increases their knowledge and experience, and chooses well what is said and how it is said.
“I greatly appreciate and respect those who refuse to judge others before getting to know them, not only up close, but also from a distance, in a way that qualifies them to confirm information they have about this person, whether negative or positive.
“This is what happened with the new ministry, which was affected by prejudices, some of which were harsh and others were exaggeratedly optimistic.
“There is nothing better than waiting until the wheel of work and achievement for each minister turns, then we can judge this team objectively.
“We all hope that this team will surpass itself and the people’s expectations, because today is the rope that will pull us as a people and a nation forward, saving us from drowning, which we were approaching day after day in previous year.”
“Once again, I carefully listened to the Amiri speech during the swearingin session at the National Assembly. People are still talking about that lofty speech until now, because in a very brief way, he spoke about what the Kuwaiti street has been obsessed with. He put dots above the letters. The expert diagnosed the situation. We are still hearing the speech. We learned a lot from him, especially when he said: ‘We did not see any correction or change in course. Rather, the matter reached the point where the executive and legislative authorities cooperated to harm the interests of the country and its people!’” columnist Talal Al-Saeed wrote for Al-Seyassah daily.
“The executive authority has departed with all its dues and duties, but the legislative authority has remained. It still stands as it is! It is part of the damage that has befallen the country and its people. Will the scene change after the appointment of the new Prime Minister? Or will the situation turn from an agreement to a dispute that begins with escalation and ends with non-cooperation, especially since the tap of benefits has been permanently closed? Apparently…
“His Highness the Prime Minister extended both his hands to cooperate with the current Assembly. Does His Highness know what kind of cooperation this Assembly wants, considering it cooperated with the previous government in an unprecedented manner? As per the supreme speech, what happened in terms of transfers and appointments to some positions lacked the most basic standards of justice. What happened in the Kuwaiti citizenship file led to a change in the Kuwaiti identity, not to mention the amnesty file and its repercussions, as well as the race to approve the Rehabilitation Bill.
“According to the noble speech, the silence of the two authorities regarding this absurdity is painful. All of this means there are deals to exchange interests and benefits between the two authorities!
“This is just a small part of the supreme speech. Did His Highness the Prime Minister meet the members, describe them as his partners in development and state that his history is not a reason for dissolving the Assembly? This entails his adherence to the current composition of the Assembly, which the Amiri speech described as harming the interests of the country and its people.
“The supreme leadership is the constitutional head of the three authorities, and the government is supposed to be the first to implement the supreme directives and act upon them. Now, they are talking about the work program of the new government that will be presented to the Assembly after taking the oath. Will the government’s work program be in agreement with the supreme speech or is there something we do not know? If this is the case, then we have to hear the speech again, but it should be very loud this time... Good?”