Who is responsible for the death of the children Ali and Ghada Al-Shehry? What about the teachers Fatima Al-Shehri, Badirah Al-Shehri, Salwah Al-Hady, Aisha Abu Gbran, Fawziah Al-Qahtani and Tema Al-Shehri? And what about the driver Mohammed Al-Dusoqy?
The second academic semester kicked off with a horrifying accident that happened in Khamis Mushayt. Six women, two children and their driver were killed in a head-on collision with a truck — the driver of which couldn’t produce a license or an iqama — adding to the huge number of dead teachers every year.
The directors of education in Khamis Mushayt completed their usual mission of consoling the teachers’ families and delivering the minister’s condolences to them. These young teachers had ambitions and dreamed of advancing socially and financially by choosing education as a career.
The Ministry of Education has no recourse following the tragedy but to send an official to express condolences to the families. Afterward, the case will undoubtedly be forgotten.
The Ministry of Education claims that it is a matter of road safety and the Ministry of Transportation should handle it. The Ministry of Transportation sees that it’s a case of traffic discipline that should be handled by the Traffic and General Security Department. Whereas the Traffic and General Security Department claims that it’s the responsibility of the Ministry of Civil Services because they usually determine vacancies and they do job distribution. The Ministry of Civil Services claims that it’s an issue of population growth so municipalities should take care of it. However, the municipality sees that the Ministry of Planning should handle the problem of strategic planning and population growth. The Ministry of Planning considers the issue from a wider angle, pointing that the Ministry of Finance is the one responsible.
This is the chain of complicated duties and the methods some leaders inside different ministries follow to pass the buck of responsibility for the issues.
If people in charge cannot take action seriously, then why can’t the authorities in the government get involved to protect the lives of innocent people?
