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بسم الله الرحمن الرحيم

 News Right Now: The Incompetent

Welcome to the episode - ‘The Incompetent’

Last week Dominic Cummings former Chief Advisor to UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson, gave a stunning, hours long testimony at the Health and Science select committee about the failures of Johnson himself and the government overall, in tackling the Covid crisis in Britain effectively. He said Johnson was “unfit for office” and that Matt Hancock, Secretary of Health and Social care “should have been fired for at least 15-20 reasons”.

Cummings presented many criticisms, but most serious were those around his claims that elderly care home residents were betrayed by government inaction and ineffective policy related to the testing of residents after hospitalisation, which led to the reinfection and death of thousands of elderly citizens. As well as this Cummings accused the government of incompetence, claiming that strategy around testing was poor and riddled with unnecessary delays given the extent of the crisis. He also claimed that local authorities were ill advised by a government which was constantly changing the goal posts, resulting in confusion as care homes were left to implement their own policies with little or no extra budget.

Before the lawyers of the select committee hearing, Cummings enthusiastically spilled details of Johnson’s initial comments on the pandemic being “just another scare story”, and that it was “much like swine flu”. He exposed the PM’s publicity stunt of getting himself and his cabinet members vaccinated on live TV to allay public concern over the safety of the vaccine, and alleged that Johnson had said “he’d rather see the bodies pile high than have another lockdown”, because “he wanted to keep the borders open to be like the mayor in the Jaws film, who kept the beaches open despite the threat of the shark”! Also that the PM had abandoned the idea of herd immunity after the extent of the death toll became clear.

This debacle only proves beyond doubt the inability of secular liberal democracy to effectively manage the affairs of its own people. In this case many realised that the last election between two equally unqualified candidates Boris Johnson the Conservative, and the then opposition Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn, was itself indicative of how redundant the democratic process really is. Also that as is usual with the vast majority of opposition voices within western politics; Dominic Cummings couldn’t be further from the sincere whistle blower some may now think he is! His politically motivated testimony is obviously rooted in revenge for being publicly outed and then dismissed in October 2020 as Johnson’s Chief Advisor, where he had risen to become the uncontested mastermind behind the four years long spin and list of lies to the British public about the benefits Brexit would bring.

The failure to create clear government policy and robust local strategies underpinned by checks and balances which enable a country wide implementation scheme – has occurred due to a flimsy ideological framework combining conflicting interests and personality politics. Responding to a crisis with effective law making, clear policy and official strategy has proven to be based on the whims and desires, and the limited knowledge of a select group, wrapped up in political wranglings and power play. This is the reality of the democratic process that we witness time and again in relation to every political issue, regardless of its left or right wing leanings. Those who argue its benefits are examining democracy subjectively, focusing on the material outcome of the freedoms they enjoy, as opposed to the inequity and even harm democracy produces via its own structural processes which disproportionately affect the poor.

This said it is essential that we explore the alternative. The Islamic ruling system has an inbuilt and overarching sense of accountability in matters of governance, ruling and leadership, which are based on a set of ideological values, drawn out of a stable doctrinal belief which naturally considers the broader ramifications of actions taken. This divine code is built to withstand the power play of man, by assigning sovereignty to Allah swt; just as its holistic rulings leave man to implement, rather than hypothesize over the needs of the people. A Qudsi hadith in which Muhammed saws relayed what Allah swt had Himself expressed. Allah swt said, “O my servants I have forbidden injustice upon myself and have made it forbidden amongst you, so do not commit injustice”. (Sahih Muslim)

« عَنْ أَبِي ذَرٍّ عَنْ النَّبِيِّ صَلَّى اللَّهُ عَلَيْهِ وَسَلَّمَ قَالَ قال الله تبارك وتعالى يَا عِبَادِي إِنِّي حَرَّمْتُ الظُّلْمَ عَلَى نَفْسِي وَجَعَلْتُهُ بَيْنَكُمْ مُحَرَّمًا فَلَا تَظَالَمُوا يَا عِبَادِي »

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