I can't make the papers I need and I don't get any answers when I go to the ministry building. I thought the Communications Ministry website would let me know what I need to do, but there is nothing in my language and nothing in English either, so I am stuck with going back to the ministry where the workers seem to enjoy sending me from office to office. I feel like a rat in a cage there, but I will have to go through their hoops," said Inge Jansen, a recently-arrived resident of Kuwait. The Communications Ministry website is primarily in Arabic, with the exceptions of the new minister's CV and a list of international call rates.
The list of Arabic-only websites is large, including even the Foreign Ministry in its ranks. "I would have thought that the Foreign Ministry would be available in other languages...isn't foreign relations supposed to be about communication between peoples?" said Susanne Nader, a longtime resident of Kuwait.
A total of eight ministry websites have no English language access whatsoever. The Ministry of Electricity and Water claims that it's English language site is under construction, while the Health Ministry claims it already has an English language website up and running, although this reporter has tried on numerous occasions to access it to no avail. "I have struggled to try and pay my electricity bills here in Kuwait and I thought the website might help, but it was a waste of time...I really would like to pay, but I never receive a bill and I seem to be getting sent from office to office at the ministry," said Philip Lee, another frustrated expat.
The few ministries offering English language accessibility are the Ministries of Justice, Interior, Defense, Social Affairs and Labor, and Oil. While the Interior Ministry website is far and away the most English-friendly website, along with all the other ministry websites available in English, it is littered with grammatical and spelling mistakes, with some ministry websites specializing in what could be referred to as just plain gibberish. While the lack of access for non-Arabic speakers is appalling, the errors are even more embarrassing.
For our government ministry's to be presented in this way to foreign residents is a real shame. One would think there are no Kuwaitis working for the government who can properly translate Arabic to English - of course, I don't believe that to be true, but then again I may be wrong," said Kuwaiti student Abdullah Al-Ajmi.
The Ministry of Information is one of the state's Arabic-only websites. This oversight begs the question, where should non-Arabic speakers go to find information? Longtime residents of Kuwait often use their company connections or Arabic-speaking friends and even 'hired guns' to complete paperwork and maneuver their way through the state's bureaucratic maze. "I have lived here for nine years and know better than to go to a ministry office or look online for answers - we hire the same guy who all our friends hire...he gets us what we need without the hassles of not being able to communicate with the workers," said Thomas Hauser.
Kuwait is full of English speakers, but not so many of them work at the ministry buildings, so we have resigned ourselves to having a hired middle man get our paperwork done there...maybe the e-government thing will be accessible in English by the time I learn Arabic," said a smiling Luke Morehouse.
---
Autor(en)/Author(s): Ahmad Al-Khaled
Quelle/Source: Kuwait Times, 22.07.2008
