KUWAIT: We can repeat ourselves again and again. It's time to move ahead and depend on our private sector to create new job opportunities for our young graduates that are now reaching over 9000 per annum. We are pleased that the gravitation law was passed by the majority of our national assembly on its deliberation last week. Furthermore, we are optimistic that it will get the final approval in the next session.It's the only way to move ahead with our future development plans. It is to be the core of our success. Without it Kuwait can't move ahead, it will remain static and can say goodbye to any progress that we had in mind of financially and economically growing and in creating our future human resources.By all means our government can recruit as many Kuwaitis or be forced to hire more Kuwaitis, but then what?We are left with employees lacking productivity, receiving salaries by the end of each month whether they have reported to work or not. Worst still the possibility that they haven't an office or a chair to sit on. No, this is not our Kuwait.We are looking for Kuwaitis that can compete with other nationalities in the work place. We want them to be as good if not better than the Americans, Europeans, Japanese and others. How is it that we are able to compete and get the best grades in their universities and still can't compete with them at work? Government jobs don't give our people that chance or the opportunities to shine. The private sector does.Privatization doesn't mean that we are to give up our oil and gas industry to others. It's taboo to even think so and everyone knows that.Can anyone dare touch a drop of our oil and gas which our constitution clearly prohibits, and that too, with the presence of our national assembly?However, what is the harm of privatizing our road and marine transport, or local distribution of oil and gas internally, or even to hand over the gas factory and local distribution of gas cylinders to the private sector. What has our oil industry to do with such non core activities? Our oil industry should focus on oil and gas exploration and production. Other than that, the rest of non-business activities should be passed to the highest bidders.The main purpose of privatization's role is to free the governments from wasting its resources without any added value to the country.What has the government to do with mail distubition which is at its worst or with electricity distribution or even with the airports and public air lines?It's time to finally approve privatization. It is for our government to off-load the old baggage on its back. The cost of annual employments is very hefty number close to five billion Kuwaiti dinars and it is liable to continue on such a scale. In the long run this will put our country in financial jeopardy. With our oil consumption reaching eight percent growth per annum this will further burden our government's obligation.Of course any new law will be subject to some loopholes and this can't be deduced until it put into full practice. Surely there will be few; however with long practices laws will be amended as necessary.Privatization is the only means to move forward and to succeed in our five-year economic plans. The private sector is our only hope to nourish the country and make it flourish. We should fully utilize all the companies registered in our stock market to participate in the coming privatization process. The hope of our future generations depends on the non-government sector to develop our young new-comers fresh from university. The private sector will offer challenges, progression and creativity in their own fields. It's time for the government to rest and let our young generation run the country within the framework of government laws and regulations. Others have tried it, so why not us in Kuwait.The writer can be reached at: naftikuwaiti@yahoo.comDisclaimer: Please note that the views and opinions presented in the column are the company's own and do not necessarily represent those of Al Watan Daily and its staff.
Source: AlWatanDaily
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