for more than 35 years, i have been following what my great colleague, abdullatif al-duaij, who is considered as the best author of books in politics in the kuwaiti press. he is a great writer and we can say that without much exaggeration or compliment. it is strange that throughout this period, despite what i know about myself from being ‘different’, i do not remember that my views, in general, differed from his views, and sometimes our positions and views are typical, other than one thing is his keenness to repeat the responsibility of deteriorating situation of the kuwaiti citizen. he stressed, if the latter were more careful and accurate in their political choices, and was more aware, our situation would be different. he repeated his point of view in the fourth and final part of his series of articles on ‘oil solutions of nations’ (oil children’s solutions) when he stated that there were no ready and rapid solutions to the crisis of low oil prices. the crisis lies in the kuwaiti citizen himself. if the kuwaiti citizen was productive, the oil wealth would have been abundant. but abdullatif said that the rent policy, which was spontaneous in nature, deprived the kuwaiti citizen of his humanity and changed his nature and social instincts towards honest competition, self-confidence, and reverence for work and workers. this is one of the rare times in which i see my colleague al-duaij as placing the responsibility on the citizen and on the revenue policies, which the government considers and controls. “i also put the responsibility on the policies and anti-modernism adopted by some symbols of power and society as well. i put the responsibility of increasing the burden and neutralizing the immunity of the kuwaiti citizen and marginalizing his ability to challenge. he went on to say that the real crisis is not a resource crisis, but the crisis is the creation of the citizen who controls these resources. this man no longer exists. he has been tamed generation after generation to gain and to circumvent in order to get his rights and even the ingredients of existence. the quote ended. thus, we see that the citizen, in his view, was tamed generation after generation to gain, and this is true how to blame who was tamed, and do not blame the one who is tamed which is the real cause. therefore, i think that the citizen, in general, is not guilty of the moral, human and productive deterioration. governments have a role in that, no doubt, and perhaps the feeling of some parties in power that this works in their long-term interest. i have a very close religious partner, and he has clear sectarian tendencies. however, he does not hesitate in every election to give his vote to a notorious candidate, and differs with him ‘doctrinal’ and intellectual when asked why he contradicted his positions, his answer was ‘that candidate follows in the footsteps of the government’, meaning he gets what he wants from it. “therefore, the government is to be blamed, because it has contributed to the complexity of administrative work, to force the citizen to resort to the mp and the latter turns to the government, so the vicious circle is complete. we have all noticed how various government departments have been affected by the issues of attendance and early departure, because of the lack of oversight tools. but as soon as the civil service commission (csc) decided to subject the government employees to fingerprint until the situation changed between day and night, everyone knew that the absence of work means deducting the amount of salary. this is the only way the majority learn how to respect work, after decades of lapse. with these, neither religious sermons nor worldly advice, moral lectures, but only beatings on their wallets! it is the (mother) government that has misled the citizen, in general, and it is the responsibility of the government to correct him.

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