Why does Kuwait look as if the wheel of progress has stopped in it? The most important question is who bears the responsibility for the mistakes made and what is the way out? Starting from Kuwait International Airport, you feel as if time has gone back 20 years, and while all rich and poor countries enjoy new, clean and comfortable airports for passengers, ours often seems a very busy one because it is very small.

Going outside the airport, you will realize that despite the clean streets, restaurants and hotels, that something is absent or missing. Traffic jams are common in the world, but in Kuwait you feel that everyone is angry about something, with a willingness to engage in a fight while driving, both women and men. Ignoring and violating traffic laws are widely common among nearly everyone, especially taxi drivers.

Try to sit with any citizen or expatriate and you can hear a lot of complaints about life here in Kuwait and the spread of nepotism, corruption and lack of serious or new businesses opportunities. In fact, you will end up feeling miserable and concerned about your future in Kuwait. While reading the papers, you will find several wishful news and reports that cannot withstand reality.

On the other hand, many Kuwaiti writers are alarmed by the situation, but they do not fully express their exact feelings to avoid legal accountability, and possibly prison. Political activists are also complaining about the restrictive confinement of freedom of expression and the laws. A visit to a government ministry will make you find indifference and chaos, while nepotism has spread like cancer. People are becoming accustomed to the situation to such a dangerous extent that even when they hear about a million-dinar theft committed by men in power, they digest it like ordinary news, just like the news of a latest movie.

It has become obvious that we have two contrasting teams: The first is the government and its allies in the National Assembly and others, and the second is the opposition and its allies. The problem here is that this team does not have a clear vision of policies because the difference is about people in power and not about substance.

We the people should not be part of the power struggle or have to bear the mistakes of any government party or the opposition. We are just numbers and users of services being offered to us by the government and its bodies. We should use our power as voters to determine who should be our representatives in the National Assembly away from personal interests.

We do not have even a decent entertainment city or a new airport. Plus, Kuwait's parliament passed a bill last week allowing the government to raise power and water charges on foreign residents and on businesses, but exempted citizens. The state administration unfortunately is absent from the reality of the region, its demographics and available resources. Repeated news of thefts by top officials in the government will naturally lead to losing the trust of citizens in the fight against corruption and the spread of nepotism and bribery will make them lose confidence in the government sector. Facts today confirm that we are no longer a productive community.

This article is not supposed to point fingers over who is behind this fragile condition of Kuwait today, but is analyzing and evaluating the real situation in order to save the population and provide new resources, and eventually save the country's reputation, which has reached a place that does not fit with its history and location among the rest of the Gulf countries.

A citizen should not have a feeling that this country was found to serve the interests of his family, relatives and grandsons only through the acquisition of the largest amount of government tenders and that there should be real enforcement of laws. Also, it is time to evaluate the role of the National Assembly after 50 years of parliamentary work.

Kuwait has lost several priorities and lack of achievement is the reality of the Kuwaiti administration. The solution of this is our approach to the adoption of management style results of administration as well as decentralization with the real implementation of technology and e-government for speeding up delivery and effective performance. We need to set new laws to reshape the country with our extended history and not make it a temporary shelter.

By Muna Al-Fuzai

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