SOME ministries do not need to be criticized. The media does not need to focus its attention on them. They do not need a critic to pinpoint their shortcomings. The false promises these ministries make speak for themselves and unravel their failures and inabilities. The Ministry of Water and Electricity is the best example. The ministry is bound to ensure a continuous flow of water to the public according to internationally known consumption rates. It is also responsible for providing electricity during day and night to the residents of all towns and villages. If there is any power outage due to an emergency situation, the ministry should immediately fix it. Water has been repeatedly cut from both big cities such as Riyadh and Jeddah, and smaller ones such as Abha. People used to flock around water refilling stations to buy water tankers, whose prices have skyrocketed. Many cities and towns used to go without water for days and months. This awful situation continued for more than nine years without a solution. By failing to find a radical solution to the problem, the ministry has delivered an effective critique of itself without the need for any outside criticism. It has clearly demonstrated its failure and inability to achieve success or make any accomplishment. When electricity is cut from towns and villages for long hours every summer and the ministry repeats the same excuses about overloads, this is a clear indication that the ministry has not been able to shoulder its responsibility and has failed to keep pace with the population increase and the industrial development in the country. The sewage system is the ministry's responsibility. The world around us has started recycling sewage, while we are still draining it using trucks.
