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"When I saw that nothing was going to happen, in spite of all my effort, that no parliamentary questions I had asked to Ministers was being responded, I came to the conclusion that resigning was my way of saying: I came with the votes of Kuwait, the People, and if you don’t respond to it, then my presence in the Parliament has no use."

Telos: You have made history in Kuwait by becoming the first woman to win seats in three consecutive parliamentary elections. In spite of all the hurdles you had to face. One for all, the Cassation Court disqualification, from contesting in the 2016 elections. What was your successful political manifesto?

Safa Al Hashem: First of all, I am grateful to God for being the first woman to be elected as Member on the Parliament for three consecutive times. Despite all the difficulties that I have faced, the animosity and the hurdles, as everybody putting sticks in my wheels just for being a woman, I managed to survive all that with integrity, honesty, and being close to the people who gave me their votes. I think my only successful political manifesto would be integrity: you have to be honest with the people, make sure that you have understood all their requests and needs, and be a great listener. Listening with empathy, being responsive to their needs immediately. I thank the Lord, always, for having a country that is cash rich and rich in opportunities, either human investment opportunities or financial opportunities; a country that has its wealth in its people, in its oil and in its fortune. Our GDP is high, therefore the expectations of the people of Kuwait are accordingly high. The services that I focused on are health, education and infrastructure. As an example, in June 2018 I proposed to the Minister of Education the introduction of IELTS tests for students who are planning to study abroad: introducing such a test which will increase the standard of students in Kuwait. In fact, most of the students who went to other countries were sent back as they didn’t pass the English test there. It might appear as a small thing, whereas these are the kind of issues that really impact the life of the people. The provision has been adopted at last.

In 2014 you shocked the country by submitting your resignation from Parliament. What were the reasons behind this decision?

Prior to that I had grilled the Prime Minister on the podium, after he submitted the business plan for Kuwait for five years, which did not meet our expectations. Personally, I was very frustrated and disappointed. At that time, I had already managed to make the Minister of Planning, the Minister of Interior and the Minister of Justice resign for not being capable to live up to the Parliament and to our people expectations as Ministers in the Cabinet. Eventually, it was an achievement to have better people sitting on those chairs, who are being able to respond effectively to the needs of MPs and what they represent for the people of Kuwait. At that point, my criticism against the Prime Minister was based on facts, numbers, figures, analyses and Kuwait status. Kuwait is a cash rich market, we have the Ultra high-net-worth (UHNW) citizens, we have a large upper middle class: Alhamd Lilah. Thanks to God, we never had anybody even close to the poverty line in our country but, in my view the plan that Prime Minister had presented was going to cause many people to get close to it for sure or even cross it, a possibility that strongly I refused and rejected. The number of sticks in my wheels became larger and larger. At that time I also had huge conflicts with the Speaker of the House and the other members of the Parliament. I guess because what I believe being my strength, i.e. being able to elaborate my views and fiercely pointing out the weaknesses of the others’ views, created a lot of animosity and jealousy. When I saw that nothing was going to happen, in spite of all my effort, that no parliamentary questions I have asked to Ministers was being responded, I came to the conclusion that resigning was my way of saying “I came with the votes of Kuwait, the People, and if you don’t respond to it, then my presence in the Parliament has no use”. It was a loud cry, a shout for rejecting the status quo and create even more noise, constructive noise. It was the first time in Kuwait’s history, for a woman MP to resign.

What is the most important political battle you are fighting right now?

After I submitted the child’s rights law with others members of the Parliament, my colleagues, and it was approved by the Parliament first, and adopted by Government then, we are now at the implementation stage that requires a lot of monitoring, and this is my exact battle. I believe in generational change, I believe that if we can work towards a better life for our future generation, there will be a huge change, especially since Kuwait is unique among the GCC, the Golf Countries. Our Parliament is very vivacious, it’s extremely democratic. MPs are elected with free elections, which are very tough; so, if you are in that position you need to express rightfully the rights of the citizens that have casted their vote for you. Let alone speaking about our generations: 62% of our population are under the age of 26. Moreover, another huge battle of mine is giving a better life and care to small and to medium size enterprises, the SMEs. The legislation dedicated to them, which I proudly say it was one of my babies, was carefully drafted and I’m delighted to say that it has proven to be a huge success. It, among others, provides our youth and youngsters with their own capital to start their own businesses. My current battle deals with the right of parents on the vaccination to their children: I love the Italian experiment, and I appreciate the fact that in Italy the people or the parents have the right to choose to vaccinate their children or not. So, I’m working towards that. Now, for us to do this is critical, but it goes without saying we are facing a lot of negative reactions - and you know how strong Big Pharma might be. I will go on fighting.

Kuwait has a major role in the Middle-East. What should be, in your view, your country’s position in respect to the foreign politics of the neighbouring nations?

Kuwait has a major role in the Middle East, indeed; our Emir, the ruler of Kuwait, Sabah Al-Ahmad Al-Jaber Al-Sabah, has been named by UN “Leader of Humanity”. He really is one of the greater humanitarians I’ve ever met, and, I mean, I met a lot of them. But this man, he took it as his burden to facilitate to solve all the conflicts that are happening in our region, between Saudi Arabia and UAE on one side, others in other areas, and I truly value his efforts in that regard. Kuwait has always been generous in giving others by establishing the Kuwait Fund For Arab Economic Development. It is the first Institution in the Middle East that took an active role in the international development efforts. It extends loans on concessionary term to finance development projects in the developing countries. The Fund also provides technical assistance to finance the costs of the feasibility studies of projects, as well as the training of nationals of the borrowing countries. In addition, the Fund subscribes in the capital of international and regional development institutions. The amount of financing that has gone to countries all over the world have exceeded a trillion dollars, and regards to building and the infrastructure needs for poor countries in Asia, in Africa, in South America, South East Asia, and that by itself is my source of pride and joy. Kuwait has always been known for having such brilliant inclination, with moderation, wisdom and truly working towards the benefit of others. One last comment. I’m very glad that I have this interview and being able to express and show to other parts of the world what is being a woman and a politician in this arena. I can assure you that, proudly saying, Kuwait has always been a huge advocate of woman rights. I’m a great example of how, my Emir, and the governments along the years have helped women in Kuwait to reach the levels that they aim to. We have in the Cabinet women Ministers, heads of institutions, heads of public authorities: Kuwaiti women are doing extremely well and I’m so proud of them all.

Marco Sonsini