By failing to provide adequate supplies to the residents of Jeddah, the water authorities have now joined a steadily growing list of heads of our civil sectors whose performance leaves much to be desired.
In the aftermath of the frustration and indignation over the whole process of getting water to their homes, the public has come to learn of many bureaucratic snafus that led the situation to the current crisis. Some of the massive turbines at the desalination plant have been unserviceable for quite some time. Others lack proper maintenance that such machinery requires.
The pipes carrying water out from the plant have not been replaced for the past twenty years or so and are reportedly delivering only a quarter of water processed, the rest seeping into the ground as a result of leaky and corroded pipes.
At the water depot itself, the massive rush and confusion to secure oneself a water tanker is a result of the absence of a process or organization to streamline the procedure, and shady deals were evidently in swing.
And yet, the executive authorities in this sector chose to let the situation fester for some time. Initially, this shortage was dismissed as temporary and affecting only small sections of the city. The public, the start of the school year, and Ramadan were blamed for the rise in water demand. And not much was being actually done to correct it. It was only when the media kept turning the screws and the issue was discussed in the Council of Ministers meeting that some sense of urgency was evident.
And while the situation has not improved dramatically, it is gratifying to note that there is some movement to address some of the wrongs. But where is the accountability of those who had for the past two decades and more allowed such circumstances to come into being?
Time and time again, we have witnessed over the years the decline of services in the public sector while their budgets keep mushrooming. Be it in the water sector, the municipalities, road works, or our sewage system, we have seen very little in terms of improvement. Of course money and lots of it were being spent. But spent on what or more truthfully on whom?
Public service heads suddenly become today’s rich and affluent — undoubtedly as a result of ill-gained fortunes that were diverted from the actual business of running the enterprises under their charge. The long running sewage system fiasco is but one example of how some individuals had profited massively at the expense of the public.
The municipality with its revolving mayors over the years and bureaucracy that smacks of corruption is but another example; the national carrier, Saudia, which has been progressively reduced in stature through abysmal management when compared to the carriers of neighboring countries, is another in a growing list of mismanagement of the public trust.
Our decaying cities or deteriorating public health services that offer pitiful medical care at best are additional examples of how big budgets have been blown or artfully directed by a few individuals.
Jeddah airport, the gateway to millions of travelers over the years, is yet another example of how bureaucracies choose to make hay while the sun shines, and let the public be damned. Where has the SR50 surcharge slapped on all foreign travelers about 15 years ago been spent on or diverted to? Was it not to upgrade facilities that we were promised then?
And all along we hear and read of glowing statistics put forth by the PR branches of these sectors — statistics that do not conform to reality. And the public grudgingly has learned to accept that this is one vagary of living in a Third World. It is after all our fault, we have been told time and again. And while we slog on, civil sector heads consistently fail to rise up and deliver on their task.
Indeed where are they now, those individuals who are today basking in their ill-gotten gains, and who will eventually and eternally be haunted and damned by their riches? Where is the mechanism that brings these individuals to the dock to account for their shortcomings and apathy toward the public?
While the government of the Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques King Abdullah is determined to straighten up a lot of wrong and eliminate incompetence and ineptness in the public sector, especially in matters directly affecting the public, I fear that the culture of corruption has pervaded deeply through the veins of some of those running such sectors.
And for the moment it is we, the public, who are left to be haunted.
