Khalaf Al-Harbi

Okaz



What are the alternative plans after the holy city of Makkah drowned in rainwater after recent rains? Are we going to ask Saudi Aramco to execute the water drainage projects? Or are we going to assign this task to acting Minister of Health Adel Fakeih?



Why do we always believe that the solution will come out a box of ideas? The problem lies in the box itself and the solution is in its belly.



Makkah drowned after rains in the same way Jeddah, Riyadh, Rabigh, Tabuk and Al-Baha did in the past. The solution is definitely not in the hands of Adel Fakeih nor is it with Saudi Aramco, SABIC, the Civil Defense or the National Guard. The solution lies in the source of the problem itself.



The problem is originally caused by the way we deal with  administrative corruption, which we consider a passing phenomenon that will end by itself or be easily contained. We believe that we can get rid of corruption through emergency plans without the need to annihilate its very roots, no matter how painful the annihilation process may be.



If we are not ready to uproot corruption, the problems will always remain to be there. They are dormant and may erupt more vehemently any time if they are not completely uprooted.



Incidentally, Makkah drowned on the same day a number of ex-officials responsible for the crisis that followed the November 2009 floods in Jeddah were acquitted of the charges against them. The end result will be that Jeddah may drown again. Other Saudi towns and cities may also drown.



The acquittal of officials connected to the Jeddah flood crisis will encourage other corrupt officials to continue their business as usual. They will feel safe as they are sure that they will not lose their jobs because of court cases nor will they be displaced due to the winds of change, rotation or development.



Who will stop corruption in our bureaucracy? Is it the National Anti-Corruption Commission (Nazaha)? I doubt this very much.



Nazaha recently published a number of violations committed by some employees of Makkah Municipality while distributing land grants among eligible citizens.



The Nazaha statement did not move a muscle in the municipality. On the contrary, the municipality replied with a strong statement in which it confirmed that all its actions were legitimate and according to the rules and regulations.



The question now is: When will the rains and floods come to destroy the municipalities and infuse in them a new spirit of change and progress? It is a fact of life that the bad performance of municipalities will adversely affect the performance of all other government departments?



The problem with rain in Makkah is that it passes through old alleys widening the cracks, which have already appeared in the walls due to the demolitions being made for the expansion and development projects. These cracks will tell the painful stories of the violations committed in the payment of compensations for the appropriated land and the forging of ownership deeds.



These stories are closer to fiction than they are to reality. They speak of people who become immensely rich in a few years only and others who become impoverished in a matter of months.