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By Abdellatif Sharaa
5 pm on Tuesday, we noticed an Asian man, who obviously was not well at all. But we were almost sure he was free of coronavirus, because the severity of his condition did not include the symptoms of the virus infection. The man needed help, and we could not do anything, and finally called the police to ask what to do. The operator on the 112 hotline was extremely nice, spoke courteously and asked about the purpose of the call. Then she said someone will call in two minutes, and that's what happened. Shortly after that two police officers arrived.
The very first thing they did was to calm the man down, then tried to understand what was his problem. Anyhow, they looked for someone who could speak his language, and were trying to get his address to take him home, because he refused an ambulance. The policeman took the man, who could barely move, saying they will do their best to take him home and not jail. In fact we expected the policemen to be serious and strict during the curfew hours, but no; they went with the spirit of the law and were realistic with the job, so I must say thank you, a job well done!
Now on a different subject, I read an article by economic expert Amer Al-Tamimi about the current situation with the population structure in Kuwait. He said that too much talk is being made about the population structure following the arrangements taken to face the coronavirus pandemic that has affected the entire world. The precautionary measures by the health and security authorities in the country revealed worrying tragedies represented by the overcrowding of expat marginal laborers in residential areas and in buildings that do not have the minimum health prevention requirements and suitable environmental commitments.
He went on to say that the miserable situations the poor expats are suffering from are known, but the influence of sponsors and residency traders who brought those laborers have prevented suitable measures, while there are hundreds of thousands of expats in excess of what the marketplace needs, as it was discovered many of them are unemployed, their visas have expired and their sponsors did not correct their situation. Also, a large number of them have not gotten their salaries for many months. These situations have revealed that the sponsorship system is corrupt.
Tamimi mentioned how the population situation ended up to what it is now. He said we have to go back, may be more than 70 years, since the start of the oil era at the end of the '40s and start of '50s of the last century. Kuwait's population at the start of the '50s was not over 100,000, and the census of 1957 showed that the total population was 206,000, 114,000 of whom were considered Kuwaiti (55 percent).
He said we went through several stages during which Kuwait population reached 467,000 in 1965, 169,000 of whom were Kuwaiti (36 percent), while in 1975 the number rose to 995,000, and Kuwaitis represented 31 percent of the population. The number then rose to 1.2 million, 471,000 of whom were Kuwaiti (38 percent) in 1985. The 1990 census which was conducted before the Iraqi invasion showed the population of Kuwait was 2,142,000, 600,000 of whom were Kuwaiti (28 percent). That means Kuwait's population increased over 40 years from 1950 to 1990 15-fold. This increase is not normal in any human society governed by normal increases, but Kuwait is open to expat labor from Arab and neighboring countries as well as other Asian centers.
Tamimi believes that it is time to rationalize economic life and liquidate many facilities that became repetitive and saturated, and protect their owners from bankruptcy risks and the inability to face commitments. He said there must be a stop to human trafficking and follow the instructions of the International Labor Organization. He added that it is important to improve the education system and motivate citizens to join vocational training institutes to provide true Kuwaiti labor who can work in public and private sector establishments.
Final note: "Hate no one, no matter how much they've wronged you. Live humbly, no matter how wealthy you become. Think positively, no matter how hard life is. Give much even if you've been given little. Forgive all, especially yourself. And never stop praying for the best for everyone."
