Learn from the enemy
this article is an excerpt from the last article written by colleague and former mp hassan jowhar. during the last few days of the 2009 national assembly, the al-qabas newspaper blew opened a can of worms which showed large sums of money had been deposited in the accounts of a number of mps loyal to the government. this scandal led to the overthrow of the government and the dissolution of the national assembly. the money deposited in the accounts of these mps was approximately or rather more than kd 300 million ($1 billion), but the political and security repercussions were much bigger in value. we still suffer from this deed because the kuwaitis were cast in the whirlpool of often silent political crises. as a matter of fact, the issue was swept under the carpet and the political fi- nancial scandal was forgotten. today, five years after the scandal was discovered, based on government data and public budget figures the government has spent, illegally, kd 4 billion or $13 billion, which can neither be accounted for, nor the names of those who benefitted from this huge money are known. what is worse still is that this irregularity passed through the legislation and none of the majority members of the national assembly gave a damn, especially those who were at the forefront of protests and demonstrations against manipulators. the national assembly approved the 2017/2018 state budget with full comfort and cooperation and off the mps went to enjoy their parliamentary recess. the lone parliamentarian who threatened to question the prime minister was riyadh al-adasani, while the opposition mps who think they are heroes swallowed their tongues and gave the government and the prime minister immunity against accountability until the end of the current parliamentary life. on the other hand, israel recorded its 21,345th victory against us when the prime minister of india, the world’s largest democracy, paid a historic visit to that country. the indian leader narendra modi told us that israel and india have much to offer to the world. on the other side, former israeli prime minister ehud olmert was shown having a ‘modest’ meal at an israeli prison. the picture was published by the media after he was convicted of receiving a ‘modest’ bribe when he was mayor of the tel aviv municipality. ehud olmert served seven years in the israel defense forces from 1963 to 1971. he served as minister from 1988 to 1993. from 1993 to 2003 he served as mayor of tel aviv when the bribe incident happened. he returned to the ministry in 2003 and in 2006 became prime minister until 2009. all this history did not help him. the court convicted him and was sentenced to imprisonment that finally ended his life as a politician and a respected citizen. this is how the people grow and become victorious over their enemies. there is no high voice to defend a traitor, a person who accepts bribe or a thief just because he has served the state as an athlete, a politician, or even if he was a hero or a former president. they are all equal in the eyes of the law. this is happening in israel but we are unable to answer the $13 billion ‘question’ — the 13 billion of public money without accountability or monitoring. we are also surprised by the government’s reluctance to publish the names of forgers of education certificates and they include senior officials, mps and ministers.
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