Okaz newspaper

I WILL talk here about the service ministries — the ministries that didn’t make any major achievement or at least satisfy people who benefit from their services.

All indicators confirm the importance of accepting criticism and reaching out to customers to ensure the highest level of their satisfaction. Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques King Salman acknowledges this maxim as he often says, “O God, have mercy on those who reveal my weaknesses”.

How could a ministry not receptive to those who expose its weaknesses? Our leaders reassure on every occasion that the Saudi people are the ones targeted by all development projects. This means that the citizen’s health, education, housing, transportation and security, as well as his rights as a consumer, as an employee or investor, as a farmer and businessman, are the top priorities of the ministries offering public services. The people’s level of satisfaction to their services is an important indicator of the government’s performance.

It is important for these ministries to reach out to those who benefit from their services and positively respond to any comments or criticisms.

In reality, what is happening is the opposite. Some ministries are oversensitive toward any criticism or attempts to reveal weaknesses.

The public relations office changed its main role of being a tool to make clarifications of issues raised or bring different views together into a defense mechanism against criticism. In order for the heads of these departments to last in their positions, they should show their best ability to defend the ministry and file lawsuits against those who criticize it, instead of opening a dialogue and clearing any misunderstandings or fixing the defaults in the ministry.

When talking about dialogue, why can’t an expert or a journalist be present when a minister gives an interview? Why can’t a different opinion be presented so it will become sort of an open dialogue between an official and the citizen. This way, the minister may learn something important about his ministry.

The office managers in some ministries are the obstacles before anyone reaching the minister. When a minister remains isolated from the public, he will tend to think that everything is fine in his ministry. That will somehow turn him into an oversensitive person toward any issues raised against the services provided by his ministry.

A minister who provides a public service should stay close to the people he serves and accept any criticisms with open heart, instead of putting up the sign “Do Not Come Closer”’.