It never ceases to amaze me how often what we are told by some of our esteemed public service officials when it comes to the services they provide is so far removed from the truth. Either we don't live in the same city or something is off-key and perhaps meant to keep us forever muddled and befuddled. In days gone by, it was very convenient for public sector officials to grab at buzzwords to pacify an increasingly irritated public. At that time, one of the most abused four-letter words used by our public service officials when addressing queries to long-outstanding problems or issues in their organization was the word “soon”. It was the weapon of choice to placate a frustrated public. Department heads became adept at brushing off the concerns of people with that simple four-letter word. As an example, in the last decade of the last century, it was announced that the national airline, Saudia, would “soon” be privatized and that services offered to the public would improve. At every press conference, the airline spokesmen were quick to dismiss queries on the issue with the word “soon”. For some odd reason, the new century started with little sign of any headway on the privatization issue. Indeed in recent times, there have been some units of the company privatized, but if you were the parent of a primary school child when you first heard of the privatization of the national airline, by the time it fully materializes and goes public, you would most likely have been attending the university graduation ceremony of your child. “Soon” is only relative to those who utter it. In that era, there were countless promises of “soon” by many others. Buoyed by the lack of accountability in the public sector, department heads were quick to pounce on any shortcomings in the performance of their sector by promising that “soon” everything would be sorted out and excellent service would be restored. We heard it from Jeddah Airport officials in explaining away their dilapidated and outdated facilities. We heard from the Ministry of Social Services that all public buildings would “soon” have facilities for disabled people with wheelchair ramps, handrails and special toilet facilities. They even proclaimed that there would be special parking areas reserved for the disabled, with special parking stickers for their vehicles. A physically disabled individual would find such statements challenging today. We heard from the Ministry of Education and the Civil Defense in the dark days following the Makkah school fire in 2002 that resulted in the tragic death of 15 schoolgirls the assurances that all schools would “soon” be subjected to a rigorous fire safety and structural inspection and all offending schools would be shut down. Did that really take place? Unless my eyes deceive me, some schoolchildren are still entering dilapidated buildings which I can only assume are major firetraps judging from the look of the exteriors? In early 2001, if my memory serves me right, the Ministry of Transport announced plans that would “soon” ease traffic problems in major cities, such as Jeddah and Riyadh, with a system of flyovers and a public transport and shuttle bus system. The crowding of our streets according to those officials would “soon” be a thing of the past. Fifteen years on and I'm still waiting. Now last week in an item in the press, officials from the National Water Company (NWC) in responding to irate complaints about the lack of water supplied to some districts in Jeddah promised that the problem would be solved in “four days”, quoting the official from the company. Remember, that was last week. A week later, I read that officials from the same company promised that the problem would be resolved in “three days”. Now unless there is something wrong with my mathematics or something weird is buzzing through my ears, last week it was four days to fix the problem. This week, its three days to fix the problem. Next week, it will probably be two days to fix the problem! Try telling that with a straight face to the many residents of Jeddah who wake up in the morning to wash and prepare for prayers only to find nary a drop of water flowing from the tap. Such dismissive and empty statements by department heads are indeed a disservice to the nation as they are not backed by any action. These bureaucrats have graduated from using a four-letter word (“soon”) into defining targets with a number of days which seems just as improbable. Perhaps “soon”, they should all be shown the door.
— The author can be reached at [email protected]. Follow him on Twitter @talmaeena
