With the convening of the first session of the National Assembly (Tuesday), and coinciding with the significant increase in Kuwait’s oil revenues due to the Russian-Ukrainian war and the decision of “OPEC +” to reduce production to keep oil prices from falling, it becomes a priority to remind the MPs and citizens to adopt a balanced proposal that solves a problem and does not create bigger problems than that.
Since most of the proposals of the popular representatives aim to satisfy the voters in an irrational manner most of the time, it becomes necessary for the citizens and their representatives to adopt balanced proposals that can actually be passed and approved and address their real problems with logic and realism, without creating a bigger problem for the citizens themselves in the future and whose cost may be very difficult to bear, reports a local Arabic daily.
The following are some proposals that may represent viable alternatives to populist demands whose economic repercussions are dangerous and harm public money:
1 – Instead of the continuous demand to drop loans from all citizens that did not and will not pass in all cases, because they spend public money on those who need and those who do not need illogically, it is possible to demand the reactivation of the Insolventors Fund and the Family Fund to address the problems of citizens who are actually experiencing financial hardship because of their debts and its installments.
Thus, we have contributed to solving a real problem without wasting public money by distributing it to those who need it and those who do not.
Here it should be noted that wasting public money at the present time may prevent us from using it in the future to solve other existing problems that need money to solve.
2 – The constant complaints about high prices of commodities and random claims for distributions to citizens this time coincides with a global inflation wave whose effects cannot be avoided, even if our energy prices do not rise and even if there are controls on prices by the Ministry of Commerce and Industry and the regulatory agencies.
The best is to demand raising the cost of living allowance from 120 dinars to 250 dinars, for example, to benefit all employees and retirees citizens, especially the low salaried and pensioners, instead of the constant complaints and non-serious claims to solve this problem.
3 – Instead of constantly complaining about the high housing prices, it is necessary to demand the lifting of subsidies on the second home of the family and the imposition of high registration fees for those who own the second property and distributing ready model housing to citizens faster to significantly reduce the number of housing requests, instead of being vulnerable to exploitation by contractors instead of the state bearing high costs of providing housing, it makes the most economical solution for public finances is to continue paying rent.
4 – Instead of the many random demands to impose taxes on income in order to diversify non-oil revenues, it is necessary to demand a gradual lifting of subsidies for the expatriate segment and to charge business owners the costs of their health care, and thus the costs on the state will be reduced significantly, reform the laws to regulate expatriates hiring because development in this area will involve this segment in economic growth by increasing consumption and investment spending inside the country instead of transferring about 80% of their income abroad.
The list of irrational claims is long and longer. There is no need to mention them all, but the important thing is that popular demands must be logical and weighted, and not random, doing more harm than good.
Therefore, the citizens first, the representatives second, and the government third, must adopt the demands that solve a problems of the citizens without wasting money on those who do not need it.
