Nepotism and Corruption: A Descriptive and Analytical Study in the Reality of Kuwaiti Society

Abstract

Nepotism is a form of corruption that threatens the main components of states since it’s a phenomenon that poses a real threat to the stability of social, cultural, and economic security in society due to the absence of standards of justice and equality therein. This phenomenon has clearly spread in the majority of Arab countries, including Kuwait, which continues to suffer from fluctuations in its global and regional ranking, up and down, despite its accession to the international and Arab anti-corruption convention, and despite the promulgation of a specific law concerning combating corruption. In this research, the goal is to clarify the concept of nepotism and its relationship with corruption by considering the causes and effects in the reality of Kuwaiti society and then show the position of the penal legislature regarding it and the extent to which its provisions are consistent with the international and regional conventions. For this reason, the descriptive and analytical methods were followed in presenting the content to arrive at conclusions and recommendations that will be hopefully reformative and guarantee limiting the spread of this phenomenon.

1. Introduction

1.1 Corruption Reality in Kuwait

The British, Mr. Robert Cunningham explains in his book on the phenomenon of nepotism in Middle Eastern societies, Wasta: The Hidden Force in Middle Eastern Society “In eastern societies, Wasta ‘nepotism’ has become a social and necessary course, although it is a means of wasting competencies and talents, and prevents serious and needy individuals from achieving their goals. Exacerbation of it has created social looseness that made people lose confidence in the change and in the future, and has made them unwilling to challenge. Moreover, the law may be absent confrontation of this widespread phenomenon, which is used to create an influence or tribal dependence or friends, who should be called nepotists” [1].

Kuwait, as well as other countries in the Middle East, suffers from the culture of wasta (i.e., nepotism), as it has become a rooted conduct practiced with a kind of acceptance in the spectrum of society, whether big or small, and has spread in all aspects of social, political, economic, and cultural life [2]. This bad habit was transmitted through tribal, communal, subordinate, and state. This bad habit was transmitted through tribal, sectarian, subordinate, and state allocation and is difficult to dispense with in recruitment, promotions, or otherwise. Since this phenomenon removes the criteria of efficiency in selecting the right persons for the right positions to ensure good performance and quality of works, the spread of corruption is a natural effect thereto. Nepotism and corruption are two sides of the same coin, and their effects are the destruction of the main components of society and the disruption of the means of development and growth. There is no harm in saying that nepotism is the cornerstone of corruption.

The frightening spread of nepotism between members of the society and the fluctuation of the levels of the State of Kuwait, between decrease and an increase in the Corruption Perception Index, as well as the inaction of government authorities, parliament, civil society, and even individuals in correcting this culture was the reason behind studying the reality of this culture and its dimensions in our small society in its size and area.

For this reason, we relied on the descriptive-analytical method, which is based on describing nepotism in the Kuwaiti society by defining it, its causes and effects, and considering the relationship of nepotism to the phenomenon of corruption, and then analyzing the position of Kuwaiti law and the extent of its commitment to the provisions of the Convention against Corruption criminalizing nepotism and the mechanisms of combating it. Some experiences of countries in this aspect are herein reviewed leading to results that ensure the treatment of this bad manner. Therefore, this chapter is divided into several sections as follows:

1. Nepotism is an Actual Example of Corruption.

2. Nepotism: Causes, Effects, and Its Reality in Kuwait.

3. Criminalization of Nepotism in International and National Conventions.

4. Preventive Measures to Limit Nepotism and Corruption.

1.2 Nepotism is an actual example of corruption

Nepotism “Wasta” is a well-known phenomenon in the Arab societies [3]. Since ages, it has been a tool of peace and conflict resolution between Arab tribes, until it becomes more important in the modern times as an aid to people, but in a way that contradicts the rules of morals and the law. Some even called it the “Vitamin W” [4, 5]. It’s a clear indication of the difficulty of abandoning it in order for a person to get what he wants. There are many definitions for Nepotism (Wasta) where there’s a consensus that “Wasta” is a personal relationship between two or more parties, mediating between them who assists or intercedes for another person to obtain a benefit or bypass an obstacle, whether by a legal or illegal way. Among these definitions; “interference of an individual or a group without commitment to the work principles and the required competence [6]. “Helping someone to get something he does not deserve or to relieve him thereof” [7]. “Introducing a mediator to solve a problem or obtain a benefit” [8]. Or “mediation by a person for the purpose of help or intercession” [1].

It appears from these definitions that nepotism in some cases is commendable if its purpose is to achieve justice and equality between individuals, demonstrate a wrongful right or to facilitate a legal task or other concepts that do not violate these principles. Mediation in other situations may be inglorious if these principles are violated and the beneficiaries lose their rights [9]. It is worth mentioning that mediation for the benefit of people is the approach of Islamic Sharia in the Holy Quran and the Prophetic Sunnah [10].

Some also differentiate between the concept of Wasta (Nepotism) and Mahsubiyya (Favoritism). The latter is related to providing a service to relatives or friends, and it’s limited to specific areas, unlike Wasta, which is considered to be of a broader scope [11]. Distinguishing between them is not of the same importance herein as clarifying their disadvantages, since both violate the principle of equality and justice. The question here is: What is the relationship between nepotism and corruption?

It should be known that nepotism and corruption are two sides of the same coin, and the latter is a problem that societies all over the world suffer from, especially developing countries [12]. Notwithstanding the difference of criteria for defining corruption as a negative phenomenon in Arab and Western jurisprudences, they agree that both are perceived as having a devastating effect on society’s main components or statutes [13]. We agree with the view that defined corruption in a broad sense as legally, morally, administratively, politically, economically, socially, educationally, or morally deviant behavior [14, 15]. Nepotism would be considered the cornerstone for the growth of manifestations of corruption in society, since without nepotism, corruption would not appear as both have the following characteristics:

1. Violation of the rules of religion, ethics, and law.

2. Achieving personal or collective benefits.

3. Negatively affect the public interests.

Therefore, it is a social disorder that affects the morals of individuals and spreads bit by bit among society until some people lose the sense of justice and that they cannot fulfill their needs except through it. Corruption is an effect of appointing persons in positions that they do not deserve to take advantage there from in their capacities [16] as public officials exercising their powers in order to override public or personal interests for their own interests, or who come from persons with knowledge, kinship, or social standing that gives them the ability to influence or otherwise power.

1.3 Nepotism: causes, effects, and its reality in the Kuwaiti society

One of the most pressing challenges faced by Kuwaiti society is the difficulty of distinguishing between the concept of nepotism and the concept of intercession, since the latter, as stated hereinabove, is legally permissible because its concept tends to help others to obtain their rights, to repel injustice from them, or to reconciliation between people, but nepotism is completely different there from because it unbalances the justice and spreads the manifestations of corruption. The effects of nepotism do not differ from corruption in terms of the danger to societies [17].

Therefore, nepotism has penetrated terribly in Kuwaiti society, even the phenomenon of corruption has become not unusual in Kuwait, and some have called it “Vitamin W” in a clear indication of the importance of resorting to nepotism in order to complete transactions, which is a negative administrative culture as some describe it [18].

Carnegie Center describes corruption in Kuwait as another invasion threatening the state’s existence after the Iraqi invasion and identified five levels that were the basis of the corruption phenomenon, the first of which was the nepotism [19]. What are the reasons for nepotism? How did it affect the Kuwaiti society?

The reasons change in order from one society to another. In Kuwait, several reasons for the spread of nepotism have been identified, and they can be summarized in terms of importance respectively as follows:

1. First: Effect of values and habits related to family bonding in Kuwait (such as family, tribal, or sectarian loyalty) or even acquaintances [2]. A person who does not benefit his family, tribe or sect—even if he is right—is considered an outcast and may be socially isolated.

2. Second: The reduction of high values of integrity, morality, and honesty of many people, especially those who have reached their positions through the nepotism. There are many models clarifying the extent of the meanness of some, especially those called “National Assembly service members” who allocated hot lines to complete the faltering transactions of citizens [20] and not only that; but some of them are even ready to mediate for someone who has committed a criminal offense.

3. Third: Failure of government institutions in confronting nepotism because of its desire to pass its interests to some influential people, among them the National Assembly service members. Bureaucracy, job flabbiness, and inefficiency are factors that contributed to the spread of nepotism where they drove individuals to search for easy access to certain services.

4. Fourth: The actual absence of the role of civil society in confronting this phenomenon and studying its negative aspects on the reality of society has entrenched in some people the sense of impossibility of fighting it.

There is no doubt that nepotism has a very negative impact on the reality of Kuwaiti society, which in the sixties considered it a humiliation to the citizen. Now, the situation has changed to as nepotism becomes a ladder for corruption in all its forms and types. The International Monetary Fund 2018 report showed that 80% of Kuwaitis believed that the nepotism was necessary to obtain a job in the country [21]. The same finding was concluded in its 2020 report that Kuwaitis were the most Gulf people who consider the nepotism as a precondition for recruitment [22]. This is reflected in the Global Corruption Perceptions Index (CPI) over the previous years¹. Despite the indicator fluctuating between increases and decreases, nepotism is considered the most important reason that hinders the process of improving Kuwait’s position in this indicator.

From Table 1, it’s clear that the extent to which the ranking of the State of Kuwait fluctuated at the international, Arab, and Gulf levels between 2003 and 2020 and what has been done in order to measure the level of corruption in the Corruption Perceptions Index of Transparency International is through the number of points obtained by each country out of 100 points. It has improved, and it clearly shows the level of fluctuation in the State of Kuwait, which reflects the difficulty of confronting and limiting the nepotism even in the long run due to the lack of seriousness in confrontation.

Year	Score out of 100	International ranking	Arab ranking	Gulf ranking
2003	53	35	4	4
2004	46	44	7	5
2005	47	45	7	5
2006	48	46	6	5
2007	43	60	6	5
2008	43	65	7	5
2009	41	66	8	6
2010	45	54	7	6
2011	46	54	5	6
2012	44	66	6	6
2013	43	69	7	6
2014	44	67	7	6
2015	49	55	6	5
2016	41	75	7 bis	6
2017	39	85	8	5
2018	41	78	8	5
2019	40	85	9	6
2020	42	78	7 bis	5 bis
2021	43	73	7	5

Table 1.

Kuwait corruption scale from 2003 to 2021.

This table has been prepared based on reading the statistics published in the Corruption Perceptions Index over the years from 2003 to 2021.

1.4 The criminalization of nepotism in Kuwaiti law

As previously stated, Kuwaiti society considered nepotism to be a humiliation to the citizen, and despite that, the legislature was not desirous to explicitly criminalize this conduct in Law No. 16 of 1960 Promulgating the Penal Law and its amendments, but it criminalized another conduct that may be similar to nepotism in terms of concept, i.e., the offense of abuse of influence stipulated by the legislature in Article 37 of the Penal Law.

This article stipulates that “whoever seeks for himself or for others a promise or a gift claiming that it is a bribe to an employee and intends to keep it or in part for himself or for the use of real or alleged influence to obtain or to attempt to obtain from any public authority a business, order, judgment, decision, authority, obligation, license, supply agreement, interview, employment, service, or any advantage of any kind shall be punished with the same penalty stipulated in Article 35 of this law.”

This text establishes the criminalization of whoever enjoys an influence exploiting it or trading it in front of others by seeking or accepting a material benefit from them such as money or gifts or moral such as illegal relations or obtaining votes in elections or other benefits obtained thereby in return for doing what they request in the face of public authority.

The Kuwaiti Court of Cassation defined influence as “the offender does not have to be an employee or under the authority of an employee, as it is valid for him to be one of the people as long as he enjoys a degree of influence at the authority who can achieve the advantage, whether the reference for this influence is his general position in the society or the presence of a special connection that binds them, such as kinship or friendship”².

This crime is similar to the crime of bribery in terms of its conduct and purpose. Therefore, it becomes clear that the legislature has considered it one of the crimes attached thereto [23]. However, it differs from bribery in several points, the first of which is that the latter requires a capacity of the offender, to be a public employee, while the crime of abuse of power—as the court indicated—may involve the offender as an ordinary person. It was real or illusionary, so the required service does not fall within the scope of his job, so that the exploiter is considered a mediator between the requester and the public authority [24].

In order to complete the state of criminalization, the legislature required that it to be committed in a deliberate manner, i.e., that the perpetrator perceives that he exploits his real or illusory influence in the interest requested by the requester, perceives that such interest was linked to an act of public authority, and that it was against a benefit he could receive both before and after the exploitation of influence. The legislature decided to punish the offender with the penalty prescribed for bribery, which is a felony that deserves imprisonment for not more than 10 years, and a relative fine determined by the value of what was given or promised to the employee. As well as penalties decided by the legislature, which are confiscation and removal from office. The question here is: Is the crime of influence exploitation in line with nepotism conduct?

From our reading of the criminal description of the abuse of power, it could be recognized that it can be applied to the conduct of the nepotism in the narrowest limits, since that the person has a social position whereby he can use his influence in terms of acquaintances, friendship, or kinship to pass the request that the requester desires to be fulfilled, and hence the person with influence obtains the benefit he desires. This description applies to the so-called “National Assembly Service Members,” who are members of parliament and who have taken their influence as a means to meet the needs of their voters, even if they go beyond the law, such as mediating in drug cases, traffic issues, employment, or other matters in order to obtain votes in the legislative elections. However, it may not be applied to the nepotism if one of the conditions mentioned in Article 37 is absent, such as the absence of the condition that the exploiter obtains the interest, because in that case it’s considered a mere compliment, or the abuse of influence in employment in the private sector, which was not criminalized by the Kuwaiti legislature at all.³

It is worth mentioning in this regard that the Kuwaiti Constitutional Court repealed Law No. 13 of 2018 regarding the prohibition of conflict of interests and the fall of its Executive Regulation No. 298 of 2018 accordingly. The court justified the unconstitutionality of this law for violating many provisions contained in the Kuwait Constitution of 1962, such as the principle of individualization of punishments, right of ownership, circulation of capital, and freedom of work⁴. Unfortunately, the Kuwaiti legislature has not yet dealt with the conflict-of-interest ruling, and perhaps this situation contributed to the widespread nepotism in Kuwait.

1.5 Preventive measures to reduce nepotism and corruption—Modern technology as a model

In many fields, researchers have touched on many means that can be considered preventive measures to reduce nepotism and corruption, but they are not sufficient as long as the moral value is removed from the individual who prioritizes his personal interest over public interests. In fact, the motive behind searching for untraditional means to reduce nepotism and corruption is the loss of self-control over conduct, and it has been proven that the use of modern technology is a key ally in confronting corruption as it allows for the detection of corrupt practices [25, 26]. The more services and works are electronic, the more the nepotism and the manifestations of corruption reduced. This is natural because we have removed individuals from dealing with public officials.

On this, Caroline Anstee, World Bank Managing Director, and Leonard McCarthy, Deputy Director of the World Bank for Integrity Affairs, stated: “technology democratizes development, dramatically improving how important information can reach its beneficiaries.

We are already witnessing how technology is changing the reality we live in. Employing the full potential of modern technology-such as open government initiatives -would help to foster transparency, thereby reducing corruption’s drain on the fruits of development.” They concluded: “Integrity is how one acts when there is no control thereupon. Indeed, with the power of modern technology, we can be censors with varying degrees. Technology can give real meaning to transparency and accountability. It can help reveal the dark sides, but it is ultimately human-made and driven by human needs. It is an effective tool in anti-corruption efforts. Integrity is always important and valuable” [27].

There are many experiences in some countries, where modern technology (artificial intelligence) has been an effective tool in reducing the manifestations of corruption as Estonia, which pursued the idea of digital transformation to confront corruption “Changing a faulty system using AI rather than chasing corruption” [28]. And it has been risen in the Corruption Perceptions Index, where it was superior to many other European countries in 2019, such as France, Spain, and Italy. Artificial intelligence technology has been employed thereby in government administration, parliament, judiciary, and investment [29].

As for Kuwait, despite what the legislature revealed in the context of Law No. 2 of 2016 on the Establishment of the Anti-Corruption Authority, the purpose of establishing this authority as stated in Clause 4 of Article 4 of this law is to protect state bodies from bribery and trading in influence abuse of power to achieve private benefits and to prevent nepotism and favoritism⁵. However, it’s not actually noticed in terms of the bitter reality that simulates the difficulty of completing the e-government system in Kuwait, as the government bodies in Kuwait are still unable to complete their path.

1.6 Findings and recommendations

In conclusion, it’s worth noting that nepotism has become a rooted phenomenon in the culture of modern Kuwaiti society, which seems to refuse to address this phenomenon socially, legislatively, or organizationally. From a social point of view, civil society has not faced this phenomenon by raising awareness of its risks, conducting studies, and preparing statistics that put society in front of a reality that violates the principles of justice and equality. From an organizational point of view, it’s found that the government has not sought to fully follow up its electronic environment and services to ensure the achievement of development plans, and this matter may serve it because its interests are accomplished through National Assembly service members. In view of the legislature role, which is the legislative aspect, the legislature has not made the due effort in addressing this issue by introducing legislative amendments capable of confronting this phenomenon, particularly after ruling that the prohibition of conflict of interest is unconstitutional.

Therefore, the recommendation is limited to the need to address these points with awareness to create a new generation that is fully aware of social responsibility to ensure justice and equality and to expedite the completion of the electronic system to improve government services and works to ensure the transition to digital transformation, as well as criminalizing nepotism and compliments to ensure that deterrence is achieved for mean-spirited persons. It’s believed that all of this, if addressed seriously, would ensure the elimination of nepotism and hopefully reducing corruption and hence moving to global indicators.