At first I thought it was a joke, but going twice over the news, I realized it wasn’t. The report, published recently by a local newspaper, said the relevant authorities have agreed to opening a special bank account where repentant government employees who feel they have been cheating their employer by not performing their work as required may deposit the equivalent of the amounts they think they undeservedly earned.
In short, anyone who wants to compensate for their shortcomings and negligence may use the account to clear their conscience of any feeling of guilt.
The money, if indeed the repentant employees agreed to pay for their crimes, would be spent on charity projects to benefit the orphaned, widowed, the poor and help those who want to marry and start a family.
The brilliant idea came from a Saudi citizen who proposed that the minister of finance officially sponsor the project. The man said employees, who realize they were not doing their job as required, may want to repent and be willing to compensate the state for the money and time lost as a result.
For example, those employees working less than the required eight hours a day; providing incorrect information when sent on official missions outside their base to earn extra riyals and those giving false information claiming they worked overtime.
The initiator of the proposal assumed that some civil service employees would be ready to repent and return the money they illegally gained.
My reaction when I first read the news was what the man proposed was indeed a utopian project. Anyone listening to such a proposal must make sure they are fully conscious.
Had that man written a book about his proposal I can guarantee it would achieve record sales that would surpass Harry Potter. The money generated from his book could then be used on the charity projects without the need to wait for thieves and negligent employers to repent and return the money they earned through illegal means and without involving the Ministry of Finance.
What is unbelievable here is that the Ministry of Finance immediately sponsored the proposal.
Can you think of someone who stole public money going voluntarily to the bank to return it just to clear his conscience? Has he had a conscience in the first place he would not have breached the trust placed in him by the employer.
If everyone who cheated the state agreed to return the stolen property and put that money in the proposed special fund, I guarantee we would not be in need of any oil money for generations to come.
