Deliberate Deception Is Our Most Burning Challenge

Al-Qabas, Kuwait, April 3

A number of parliamentarians, some of whom are well known and widely respected, presented a recommendation to the government to establish a national authority for crisis and emergency management in response to the events unfolding in Ukraine these days. The entire proposal is meaningless. If established, this body will become nothing more than a corrupt entity used to employ the family members of these politicians and their cronies. Let me assure you that this authority would achieve many goals, but emergency preparedness and management will not be one of those things. The crisis that we are facing, or that we will face, if the war between Russia and Ukraine extends and expands further, can be addressed through channels and forums that already exist in our country. The military, national security council, food authority, and even agricultural associations and major food importers can all be brought together to address the situation. We do not need another council, devoid of actual expertise and authority, to convene and pretend to address our issues. And if these parliamentarians are truly wary of the dangers facing Kuwait, then there are far more burning problems that must be addressed at the national level. One timely and alarming issue is the number of forged Kuwaiti passports and identity cards that are being discovered each and every day. Every month we learn of more cases of identity theft and forged certificates, some of which were achieved with the help of corrupt government bureaucrats. This phenomenon comes hand in hand with the forging of educational and professional credentials by prominent businessmen and politicians across the country. The pharmacist all of the sudden became a doctor, the school teacher began claiming he is a professor, and the worker in the field all of the sudden turned into an “agricultural engineer.” When will this deliberate deception stop? – Ahmed Al-Sarraf (translated by Asaf Zilberfarb)