one of the abbasid governors announced that whoever taught his favorite mule, which was then a 13-cylinder volvo, to read and write, he would give him a thousand dinars, and if he failed, his head would be cut off.
many idiots applied for the task, failed, and had their necks chopped off! but after a while, “juha” advanced to the task, and returned from the governor’s palace, dragging the mule behind him, amidst the ridicule of the people of the city, and when they asked him about the secret of his madness, when he was known for his intelligence, he responded by saying that he asked the governor to first give him the thousand dinars, and give him ten years so that he could complete his mission!
everyone laughed at his stupidity. how could a mule learn to read even after ten years? so juha justified his behavior by saying that he would enjoy the money in the coming years, and then one of the following calamities would most likely occur: the mule would die, or the governor would die, or he would die!
i remembered that anecdote as i read about the ministry of public works beginning to solve the problem of damaged roads and awarding contracts to maintain some residential areas to local companies.
i have no doubt in the good faith of the honorable minister noura almashaan, and in her sincerity. from my meeting with her, based on her generous request, i found in her the determination, the intention to work, and the courage to confront the problems.
she is qualified for the task, and it would not have been advisable to burden her with the “ministry” of the municipality. with all the corruption and concerns of the ministry of works, i hope with all my heart that she will return as a minister of works (only) in the new ministry.
i told her in the meeting that it was necessary to speed up the awarding of contracts to local companies, as the idea of using foreign companies was completely ridiculous and impractical! i also told her, and she was aware of this, that it was very difficult to seek help from the ministry’s employees and its army of brave engineers, the majority of whom were not “always creative,” men or women, to carry out the task of supervising, even the least difficult and complex work.
it was therefore necessary for someone from “outside the ministry” to hire for this work, even if temporarily, due to the need to move quickly, especially with the presence of a sharia graduate at the head of a completely technical ministry (!!).
it seems that she was not convinced by my proposal, or did not obtain approvals. i learned from my sources that it is not possible to seek the help of professional and external parties to carry out the supervision process, for logistical and financial reasons, and this is understandable!
consequently, the ministry’s supervision of the contractors’ work will be of a quality other than what it requested, which is consistent with logic, and this may result in the situation remaining as it is, and perhaps we will discover after a few years that the condition of the roads has returned to what it was, then the theory of the three possibilities that he developed will apply.”
juha had this in mind when he pledged to teach the mule how to read! after five years, when the devastation begins to appear in public, who will remember who was responsible? we hope we are wrong, but we have learned from our experiences with the ministry of works to be careful when assessing the level of the ministry’s supervision!
i hope that madam minister will ask all contractors to place clear signs in various project sites, clearly showing the name of the implementing company, so that people will remember that it is the one that implemented the project, and the company will subsequently either be praised or cursed and this is a kind of indirect deterrence.
we also do not forget to extend our sincere thanks to minister noura almashaan for her success in overcoming all obstacles to ending the situation of the “abdul razzaq” road tunnel, which for years represented evidence of the devastation and destruction of the government administration!
we wish her success, and she deserves all the support and continuation of her “almost impossible” mission.
the discussion on the same topic will continue in tomorrow’s article …