Qaisar bin Hamid Metawea Al-Madina The Ministry of Social Affairs may not be among the powerful ministries like interior or defense. However, for the poor, needy, orphans and the elderly it is the most important of all the ministries. It is the government body whose main concern is to look after these sections of society. These poor and needy people do not have rich relatives to support them or high-positioned officials to be the intermediaries to go to and get things done for them. A number of problems in this ministry have been locked in a box for a long time. Nobody will know anything about these problems except when the newspapers hint at them from time to time. The problems that are revealed by the press include various issues such as an aggression against one of the people in a social care home, lack of cleanliness in another home and other matters. We will never have known about these problems has it not been for the press and the social media. These incidents would have remained safely locked in the ministry's box. The strange thing is that every time an incident is revealed, the ministry hastens to say it will investigate the problem. The results of the investigations or the punitive measures taken against the wrongdoers are never revealed to us. Only rarely do we hear that a social affairs official has been punished or held responsible for a certain incident. After the unfulfilled investigation promises by the ministry, the box that contains the issues will be locked again and we will be kept in the dark regarding all issues of concern to residents of social protection homes or orphanages. The issues of the poor and needy will disappear again into oblivion. They will keep praying that the box of problems will be opened again and that their issues come out into the open. They have nothing more to do except pray. Majed Al-Qasabi, the recently appointed minister of social affairs, will have to shoulder the responsibility of these marginalized people who are fighting only to survive. They have no ambitions other than to stay alive, even barely. We hope the new minister will make surprise visits to the social protection homes and the charity accommodations to see for himself the way these poor people live. The visits should not be announced and should not be made known to any official in the ministry so the minister will be able to assess the level of services being provided to the poor residents and he will be able to listen to their complaints. The minister should stay away from the protocol visits in which he will be accompanied by a number of officials and will be received by flowers, incense and children wearing new clothes that they might not have seen even in their dreams. The children will be put into the new clothes only to receive and please the minister. All the places through which the minister may pass will be cleaned. The services that will be provided to the residents at the time of the minister's visits will be of a five-star standard to give him the false impression that the poor and needy are being taken good care of. We hope that the minister will also visit the houses of the citizens covered by the social security system to see for himself how they are living. He should also listen to their requirements with a view to resolving them. The minister should ask, whenever possible, the supreme authorities to amend the salary scale of the social security system and to increase the amount paid monthly to the poor male and female citizens. The thing that may help the minister in his endeavors to serve the poor and needy is that Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques King Salman himself is giving special attention to this category of people. He is very keen to improve their living conditions. We pray to Almighty Allah to help the new minister in his endeavors to provide excellent services to the poor and needy.
