Ministers Can't Escape Accountability With Resignations

In response to the two interrogations submitted against Amani Bouqmaz by MPs Daoud Marafi and Mubarak Al-Tasha, and supported by other MPs, the resignation of the Minister of Public Works, Amani Bouqmaz, raised questions about the minister's political responsibility and who is accountable for administrative and legal violations and obstructed state projects, especially in terms of infrastructure development and road improvement.

Kuwaiti citizens have suffered for a long time from repeated flooding of roads and tunnels during rainy seasons, as well as other chronic problems that have not yet found solutions, reports Al-Qabas.

Government sources confirmed that accepting the resignation of the Minister of Works despite the two interrogations she was subjected to is an implicit admission that she had failed to perform her duties. The sources stressed the necessity of correcting the shortcomings, as well as holding negligent officials accountable, even if they resign and leave their positions.

There were several topics discussed in the sources, most notably the Roads Authority, waste of public money, failure to implement the law, failure to perform her duties, failure to perform and follow up on the ministry's work, as well as the environmental damage and the repercussions for the nation and its citizens as a result of the last interrogation presented by Daoud Marafi.

Her contradictory statements regarding the roads issue misled the government and public opinion, according to sources. She promised to radically repair the roads in July 2023 after taking over the ministry, but nothing was accomplished, despite the announcement of the launching of international tenders. Jassem Al-Ostad, the acting Minister of Public Works, revealed in his first statement that there were no maintenance contracts. The resigned minister discussed maintenance contracts as well.

Contracts were awarded in violation of the conditions, which is a new damage to public funds and a legal and administrative violation.

According to the interrogation submitted by Marafi, the resigned minister is responsible for the delay in the airport project based on the wishes of the contractor, “Limak Company,” with regard to the reserve item in the T2 information and communications systems, despite the agreement of the concerned parties, especially the “Government Performance Monitoring Agency, the CITRA, and Civil Aviation." Fatwa and Legislation Department, Kuwait University, and the Ministry of Interior, expressed their fear of the multiplicity of systems and took into account the costs of linking them, and their emphasis on unifying the system, but the Ministry of Works did not implement this.

The sources indicated that the outcome of the achievement was “zero” from the time the Minister of Works took over until her resignation from her position, and accepting her resignation without accountability opens the door for any official to continue wasting public money and taking advantage and making decisions and then canceling them, and misleading public opinion regarding projects, so whoever is safe from punishment can get out of the situation without accountability, by just throwing in the towel.

During the era of the resigned minister, the following mistakes were made:

By neglecting the streets, not taking measures for the rainy season, and not enabling the Roads Authority to function effectively.

Road maintenance and repairs are not planned well, resulting in exorbitant repair costs and economic losses.

Choosing contractors randomly and randomly harms project implementation, increases their costs, undermines Kuwait's credibility, and causes Kuwait's international rating in infrastructure and road quality to decline.

Deficiencies in maintaining infrastructure and the quality of roads due to lack of strategy and vision.

Failure to perform and follow up on the ministry’s work and the damage it causes to the nation and its citizens.

Delaying the completion of the new Kuwait Airport T2… and negligence and manipulation in civil aviation.

Misleading facts in the government’s action plan presented to the National Assembly.

Negligence, administrative manipulation, and the fight against competencies in civil aviation.

The Roads Authority has a number of shortcomings

Failure to appoint a general manager and his deputies.

Lack of technical expertise in the Authority, which caused an exaggeration in the estimated cost of the proposed projects.

Lack of a system or work procedures and lack of internal control and auditing.

Lack of staff and the Minister’s disruption of transportation.

Relying on expatriates to make decisions and conduct work.

Failure to transfer powers to the Authority.

The weak response and guidance of the executive branch and their failure to provide them with the tools that help them carry out their role.

Wasting Road Authority budgets.

Required solutions include:

Holding accountable those responsible for wasting public money and corruption

Cancellation of decisions issued without study

Issuing new corrective decisions

Accelerating development projects

Speed up the issuance of road repair contracts and tenders

Accelerating the pace of work to meet the aspirations of citizens Working on applying the Qatari asphalt mixture that has proven successful 

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