Post at lowest ebb
we send our congratulations to the assistant undersecretary for postal affairs at the ministry of communications as the country celebrates the 100th anniversary of the postal services in kuwait for reaching unprecedented low level during his term in office in spite of the sector employing about 2,000 people. the use of the internet, fax service and the whatsapp application has almost outdone the postal service but the presence of all these means does not mean everyone is forced to use them or is available for everyone. the courier service costs manyfold as compared to g o v e r n m e n t services but it is painful to see thousands of recipients fail to receive messages, parcels are either lost or stolen while on its way or often delayed. this important and simple service is still necessary for many. it is regrettable to note kuwait is currently being expelled from the postal union because of repeated domestic and international complaints against it. this will be a black spot on our reputation. the al-qabas daily had earlier looked into the issue and had tried to identify the shortcomings. it is clear there is no strategic planning because nepotism is very obvious because of the illogical distribution of employees at postal centers. some of these centers complain of shortage of staff while others are overcrowded, not to mention the lack of supervision and auditing and the continued interference of senior ministry officials when it comes to transfer of staff of this sector which is done without coordination or planning. the al-qabas also noted the lack of mail for digital systems that can help access information very quickly. this is applied to all centers and one of the main reasons for the decline in postal services. in the third millennium, we still register mail and parcels manually in a primitive manner. the absence of info systems in the mail is one of the reasons for the failure and low level of service. the sector also lacks the message or parcel tracking system while a similar system adopted by several countries is up to date and well known. once the message reaches it disappears from the computer screen as if someone has destroyed it. the postal officials also refuse to provide tracking services in each office in the name of confi dentiality and privacy, while they ignore delay, loss of cargo and the rights of citizens and residents. the question here is: “where is the assistant undersecretary of the ministry and why he is negligent. why doesn’t the minister take action against him, if he is the cause of deterioration of service? where is mp safa’a al-hashem? why doesn’t she question the minister of communications for his failure to attract unemployed kuwaiti youth to take up this relatively easy job instead of issuing racist statements and inciting the nations of the world to hate us by creating a perception that all of us are arrogant and racist just like her?
