the controversy over the fate of the funds collected by charity societies has never stopped whether related to spending at home or what is sent abroad, therefore, it was not strange for the central bank of kuwait to move and issue instructions to mrs. hana al-hajri, the undersecretary for social development at the ministry of social affairs and the head of the committee concerned with coordination between ministries related to fundraising operations undertaken by charities and asking them to stop any donations outside the country and to limit them to internal aid.
the central bank justified its decision that it was due to the circumstances of the corona pandemic, in addition, that the ministries of awqaf and social affairs are working on a study with regard to controlling and monitoring fundraising and licensing operations for charity associations. there is no doubt that the issue has other aspects related to international pressure and the fear that such huge funds will leak to finance terrorism and illegal acts.
the chairperson of the committee stressed the need to localize charity work, and this is what we have previously called for on dozens of occasions through articles. the fate of money that goes abroad is often not known due to the lack of transparency and the absence of all kinds of control over funds sent abroad, and the tendency of the human soul to misuse uncontrollable money.
it was not strange for a new deputy to address the matter and attack the central bank’s decision to stop sending aid money abroad, claiming that the decision includes a restriction on charity work, and how the approval of the ministry of social affairs on the central bank’s decision is considered a kind of dangerous deviation and undermining kuwait’s humanitarian role abroad, at a time when international organizations are praising the integrity of charities.
this is a false and unfounded allegation that was previously repeated by a former deputy, a member of the islamic constitutional movement and we challenged him to produce single evidence in this regard. the words of the new mp are meaningless, as no international body has testified the integrity of kuwaiti charity work.
also, this work is not subject to the monitoring of any supervisory authority especially funds that are sent abroad, which often go to the branches of the same associations or to those who personally represent them in those countries.
considerable sums are deducted in favor of those in charge, and a part is spent on charity works, often primitive.
the fear of the mp belonging to the muslim brotherhood for his associations was expected and confirms our view of the danger of leniency with the issue of sending money abroad, without being monitored as is the case now, especially since the ministries of foreign affairs and social affairs are neither qualified nor able to monitor and follow up the funds sent by charity societies, especially politicized ones, to african countries and others, most of which are have sunk knee-deep in corruption.
we go back and once again thank the intervention of the central bank, and for the position of the ministry of social affairs. negligence took place and billions of dollars were lost, as the institutions to which money was sent received only the crumbs.
note: we thank the national bank of kuwait for its beautiful initiative to honor mr. abdul latif al-hamad, for his beautiful giving to his country for the past 60 years. the honor of this man is well-deserved.