Ernst and Young, a global accounting firm, released the results of a survey on corruption in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA). As an Arab citizen, I feel, Ernst and Young did not reveal any strikingly new information about the Arab World that we did not know as citizens. But I want to thank them. They still did a good job in a very dark and under reported area. But they confirmed our street talk. Their report didn’t have the same shocking effect as Assange’s WikiLeaks which shocked the world, especially us in the Middle East. He provided small detailed statements issues by our politicians concerning the way politics works here.

Ernst and Young did their homework and specified which countries have more corruption. Now I am telling them: We sink in corruption and I don’t need a survey to prove it. Allow me to brag: We can be crowned on top. If we did not have corruption in the Arab world – leave Africa for the Africans, God bless them, they also have enough corruption on their hands – do you think the Arab world would have been in the mess that you see? Would there be poverty in the Arab world if our leaders were not corrupt? Would Bouazizi be the hero who set himself on fire out of poverty? Would there be lack of advancement and backwardness in science when at one time the Middle East science was booming and Europe was in the dark ages?

Now it’s vice versa though we have all the wealth of the world in our land, be it petrol, gold, agriculture and natural resources. I am talking from Maghreb on the Atlantic ocean till the Gulf shores. The Arab world enjoys some of the best weather on earth. We have rich land and rich historical heritage in our countries – Palestine, Egypt, Saudi Arabia and Jordan to mention a few. All these places are full of historical heritage stories whether it is religious places or just historical.

Just look at the land of the Pharaohs. It is home to nearly 60 percent of the world’s ruins. Don’t forget other countries as well. We have sea, land, mountains, deserts and wealth. Most of all, we have Islam – the most fair and democratic religion which is, unfortunately, hijacked and abused. I don’t mean the Brotherhood Islam or the Salafi Islam or the Wahhabi Islam. I mean Islam.

This is what happens to nations who ignore religion and care only for the small matters in religion and brush off the major rules – the way to govern, the way the economy runs, freedom of speech and opinion and transparency, how wealth should be distributed to all, human rights etc. I am not here to preach. We lost our identity to dictators and hungry and ruthless politicians who give birth to even hungrier offspring. The proper understanding of democracy, transparency and accountability which we need badly is the key! Thanks Ernst and Young!


By Badrya Darwish
badrya_d@kuwaittimes.net