Bureaucracy and corruption are the diabetes and cholesterol of public life. The two evils go hand in hand and seem to be there for life: You can control them, but you can’t completely get rid of them. Americans complain about bureaucracy when they can get just about anything they need by mail. Whatever bureaucracy they have remains faceless and more or less abstract.
In our world, bureaucracy and corruption have an all too familiar a face. More often than not, the face belongs to a geezer who was born before electricity entered our houses, and educated when there were no schools.
We are a young nation, you see, but our geezers are as old as time itself. They were first employed when they were the best-educated young men around because they could write their names, and competition was nonexistent. They have managed to stay in position by a trick unique to our world: They play around with their age and change it as they wish. This is easily done since no records were kept sixty years ago.
Their idea of work is also unique. They come late, sit tight, and make sure that anything needing ten minutes to accomplish takes at least a day. Before you open your mouth to explain what you need, they demand you come back tomorrow. They are always in a foul mood. They suffer from diabetes and high cholesterol levels. High blood pressure is the cherry on the cake. You might think they would prefer to retire instead of torturing themselves needlessly.
Alas, if only you knew what joy is to be had in such positions. Getting on the nerves of their young and truly educated subordinates brings out unseemly giggles from these geezers, and you actually get to see the bright dentures they are sporting courtesy of the “miscellaneous” funds in the budget. One such specimen still refuses to allow Internet access in the office simply because he does not understand what Internet means. Another forced all the employees in his department to buy a certain brand of mobile phone because his brother is the sole agent in the Kingdom.
The truth that we have to face is the fact that people, like cartons of milk, expire before they die. It is called retirement in other cultures. Those who have served should not hold on to something that is better without them. If they insist, we should move and make them step down.
The amount of damage they do to work and the well-being of a country is immense. They frustrate the young to the point that they might become clones of the original geezers.
This will be an infernal cycle beyond redemption if not quickly and positively addressed. Respect is due to those who have given what they can, but the future belongs to the young.
(e-mail: [email protected])
- Arab News Opinion 4 September 2003
