Recently, a number of ministers and high officials were replaced. In addition, we have also seen changes and appointments in various judicial bodies.
This is good — at least at first glance. A puzzling question, however, remains: Will changing a minister change the performance of the ministry? The answer is “yes” because every minister has his own style in running the affairs of his ministry.
What is the nature of the change that will be noticed by the employees of the ministry, such as doctors and nurses in the Ministry of Health and teachers in the Ministry of Education? Will it be enough for the minister to play according to the rules of the old game, without making any attempt to change the game’s conditions and parameters?
Good intentions alone will not be enough. Neither will integrity nor transparency. At the same time, these things might improve performance as well as the process of monitoring and following up. However, it will not be enough, especially under the obsolete system that is no longer appropriate. The mechanisms used also might not work everywhere.
Enlightened leadership is one that detaches itself, as much as possible, from the routine of daily work, which consumes time, kills creativity, freezes energies and ends in the files of oblivion.
Wise leadership is one that revises the big picture and the large frame so it is not drowned in details or fatigued by attempts to patch up here and there. A country as large as Saudi Arabia deserves a complete revision of its ministries and official bodies.
We have tried centralization be-fore. It was suitable then. Today it seems to be the root cause of most of our problems. In light of this, is there any “ministerial courage” for looking at other solutions and mechanisms to reduce the grip of centralization and encourage competition among branches to come up with new and untraditional ideas?
If successful, these new ideas would benefit all. If unsuccessful, people would avoid them.Stagnant water cannot be stirred by the movement of people around it nor by changing the people who have suffered as a result of it.
