Too bad if you get caught up in an Auto accident

So now it seems as those all those minor bumps & scrapes that are part & parcel of owning a car in Kuwait are going to have to go unrepaired, until someone makes a good go at it and you feel it's worth the bureaucratic hassle of getting a police report & making an insurance claim. This in the Arab Times recently...

'Insists on police documents before repairing cars wrecked by accidents'

KUWAIT CITY: Deputy Premier and Interior Minister Sheikh Nawaf Al-Ahmad was recently quoted as saying according to a decision issued earlier car mechanics and garages are forbidden from carrying out repairs on cars damaged by accidents unless such car owners produce documents issued to that effect by a police investigator or a police officer, reports Al-Watan daily. The decision also says vehicles involved in accidents outside the country should be proved by official documents issued by the country where the accident occurred and the same must be authenticated by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs before the vehicle is sent for repairs.

What a scam. I try and avoid this type of institutionalised time-wasting as much as possible as I don't have the patience. Pity those that get bashed on a trip through Saudi... The same article goes on to say...

Meanwhile, Al-Anba daily said the General Traffic Department (GTD) carried out surprise inspections and issued citations to 411 garages for violating GTD rules and regulations. The daily also said the GTD collected KD 19 million from traffic violators and this year the figure is expected to reach KD 25 million. The daily added the GTD has collected KD 13 million until end June 2004.

So, quick back of a cigarette packet calculation... (bad metaphor, I don't smoke), that's KD10 (about $35) for every man, woman & child living in Kuwait. Given the number of actual drivers in Kuwait then it's more like KD25 each. If you have lots of wasta then you're probably not going to pay anything anyway, so that drives up the per capita contributions of those that probably can least afford to pay...

Given the amount of crazies on the road and the lack of action by police to stop them.... just a thought but, traffic violations are probably Kuwait's second largest income earner... and it has the potential to be so much more! So forget about encouraging Tourism or other ways of diversifying the economy away from its total dependence on oil... let's keep on employing Kuwaitis into the police force and get them out in those squad cars that are typically gathering dust in carparks. Let's really put Kuwait on the map as the highest per capita income earner from traffic violations... and we'll have the added bonus of cutting down on traffic related accidents and deaths!

Now if we can only deal with the Ministry of MisEducation and get agreement that all schools don't really need to start at the same time each morning, leading to traffic jams during the school run. Wishful thinking perhaps.

IKEA opening in Saudi

This story is a few days old now, but wow, talk about desperation. I know IKEA is popular, but the cheap pine furniture isn't worth dieing for...

Three die in Saudi shop stampede

IKEA employees carry an injured man out of the furniture shop. A stampede of hundreds of shoppers in western Saudi Arabia has left at least three people crushed to death.
A Saudi man and a Pakistani man were among those killed, officials in the port city of Jeddah said.
The incident occurred after shoppers rushed into a branch of Ikea to claim a limited number of credit vouchers being offered to the public...

...One shopper among the crowd said barriers had broken and security guards were unable to cope. He likened the scene to crowds at a rock concert and said he'd never seen anything similar in the country before...

Given that there are no rock concerts in Saudi, maybe an IKEA store opening is a good way of letting off steam after all.

Trapped & Hopeless in Kuwait

Just came across this article in the Kuwait Times.

By Muna Al-Fuzai: It happens every day somewhere in Kuwait. A 'cleaning worker' comes up to you, greeting you in a low voice and with a shy look, asking you to give him money. Now, you have to choose between contributing to the physical and psychological suffering this poor soul will endure in the event that you do not give him any money, or giving him a few fils, or a dinar or two. Yet, you know that he will have to collect more than you can give just to pay the KD 10 minimum demanded daily by the money collector who employs him...

I was unaware of this phenomenen in Kuwait, but it ain't surprising. As Muna says later in the article, hopefully publicity of this problem will help in leading "... concerned authorities to intervene and end this horrid practice, which is an affront to Islam and to Allah Himself." Rather than having an indigenous poverty issue, what makes Kuwait different to other societies is that here, the poor are imported to further exploit.