On the plane I sat beside an old woman from the country I was traveling to. In the adjacent seats were two of her daughters who must have been in their 50s and 60s. While we were seated waiting for the plane to take off, I realized the great intimacy and love with which the three women treated each other. At first I thought that such affection was a result of the fear felt by some people when travelling by plane. I said to myself some people behave as this family of three women did because they might be driven by a fear that they may never make it safely to the ground.
The show of love and tenderness started with noisy kisses on the cheeks that seemed to have broken the sound barrier. It was as if the women were reminding each other of the good old days or of loved ones who were no longer there because they were either dead or have been confined to bed by illness.
When the cabin crew began distributing the meal, the two ladies seemed to have suddenly remembered all that their mother liked to eat. I realized that the mother liked butter very much while the two preferred cheese. I arrived at this conclusion when these milk by-products started flying over my head with each women sending one item to the other.
Seeing the difficulty of the situation I offered my seat to the mother and asked her to move to my place and sit close to her daughters so that the three could communicate and exchange gifts without difficulty. The mother, however, refused saying she loved to watch the sea and mountains of her country from the airplane window.
The three ladies realized my predicament and worked to improve the situation. They started getting things out of their suitcases and exchanging these as gifts but this time instead of sending the items flying over my head they asked me to help in passing over their gifts. I found myself being turned into a courier.
The story struck my mind as something unbelievable. But how about the SAWA scam now unfolding in the country? For four full months millions of the prepaid mobile phone cards have been changing hands with agents making huge illegal profits under the very watchful eye of the relevant authorities without anyone doing something until it was too late and the damage done.
What is indeed unbelievable is having claims of land ownership suddenly appearing whenever a road is built. What is unbelievable is seeing foreign investors flocking to neighboring countries shunning a nation that day and night keeps urging them to come and invest while remains buried in administrative incompetence and red tape.
What is unbelievable is seeking the black market creeping and finally dominating our stock market and commercial activities with the result that everything sought by the people now comes through the black market.
What is unbelievable is the Kingdom trailing in the World Economic Forum index in regard to transparency and the economic environment in general while smaller neighboring countries are placed in leading positions.
What is unbelievable is for people to wait to see a good comedy show during the fasting month of Ramadan only to discover the damage done to our education system as a result of politicizing religion. Shall I say more? I think the reader would settle for what has been said.
