after the 41 charity societies collected 9.14 million dinars in the ‘faza’a kuwait’ campaign and after its completion of the difference in the percentage of deduction and how to put it into practice, i decided to buy food from the market and distribute it to the needy.
everyone refused to buy what it requested, including the minister of commerce and industry, and he has the right to do that because that would lead to artificially raising prices and unjustified waste.
thus, the ministry of commerce issued licenses to import foodstuffs and essential needs to 13 charity societies, i repeat for 13 societies. i was surprised on behalf of the kuwaiti humanitarian friendship society, of which i am proud to be president, because of the distinguished structure of the board of directors so i protested this forgery and considered it ‘bait’ to cope with the situation and accept the violations.
i immediately contacted the ministry of commerce and asked for the license to be canceled. we are not merchants but a charity, the law of our association, and the rest of the charities are not allowed to import at all, so how can it be violated?
i refused the license despite my belief that i am the only president of a charity who knows, from the experience of more than half a century, the secrets of the trade and its paths. i showed the officials my reservations regarding granting charities general import licenses, and their summary is as follows:
1-to begin with none of them have experience or knowledge about import activities and its complexities; the required amount to spend it to buy food from abroad is so few, compared to the actual need; the societies will have to employ hundreds of their affiliates, often untrained, to carry out import, clearance, warehousing, and packaging operations, and these are all difficult but beneficial (financially) for those who take charge; the cost factor is important. there is no benefit in importing a bag of rice for ten dinars, for example, if its price locally is half of that; finally, a request for subsistence is required now, and immediately, for the societies to search for sources, import, packaging and distribute the goods and it will take no less than three months.
it became clear to me that the concerned parties did not want to listen to my point of view, so i chose to withdraw from a meeting that was to be held between the representatives of the thirteen associations and the distinguished lady, the minister of social affairs.
it was subsequently found that the ‘union’ of charity societies (and there is no such entity) the ministries of social affairs and commerce and industry decided to proceed with the import process, which will give some of them the opportunity to make profits at the expense of the public interest; and described who issued the decision as it is characterized by “experience, expertise, and know-how”!
how can the decision achieve a balance between the local market and its requirements – the requirements of a charitable nature, ‘do we understand anything?”
we return to what we mentioned earlier about our strong opposition to any party distributing foodstuffs, as this issue may be appropriate in certain ‘relief’ conditions, but it is never suitable for the current conditions.
there are hundreds of thousands of unemployed people, a majority of whom are singles, and distributing a food basket to them would be an unjustified waste.
the needs of a bangladeshi family, for example, differ from the needs of an egyptian family. therefore, it is better to distribute money in cash to each needy, as we have done at the kuwaiti humanitarian friendship society three weeks ago, in a manner that suits the situation.
the problem does not lie in logic but in the fact because this will allow some to profit from it. did you know what happens when the wolves are jogging?