ShareOur sea is polluted. Thousands of fish are dying on the shore. The air also is polluted. Sandstorms and humidity and no rain. Our streets are polluted. Our systems are corrupt. Our soul is polluted. Everything around us is polluted. People are polluted with greed and discrimination and apartheid. Our society is polluted.
This is not the first time that fish are dying on the shores of Kuwait in their thousands. It happened before - a few years ago and was explained as 'red tide', something that suffocates the fish. But now it's happening again in Kuwait and we didn't hear a proper explanation from the government. Just rumors here and there about warning against eating fish as they might be poisoned and other rumors saying no, fish are safe, eat them. Then rumors about what caused the flood of dead fish. Is it heat or pollution or fishermen bombing the seas?
But the truth stays a secret. Where is KISR, our scientific research center? Where are the millions spent in KISR? Can't someone from KISR explain to us what is happening in the sea? There is sewage actually pumping into the sea in Kuwait City. Where is the Public Authority for Agricultural and Fish Resources? Why aren't they offering us any explanation? Aren't they qualified? And what about the EPA? - Kuwait's Environmental Protection Agency.
All of these government bodies mandated to protect our natural flora and fauna and not a peep. Where is the parliament? Where is the shouting and screaming notorious MPs who typically raise a ruckus over every little thing? The sea doesn't concern them? The life of Kuwait is the sea. Our ancestors lived and died by the sea. So the sea now is an extra thing that we don't give a damn about as we have oil, money and tenders? I'm fed up. Just depressed beyond belief. This is our country, our land, our sea. How did we fall so far?
By Badrya Darwish
