It was scary, when a drunk man entered the post office one evening and harassed us. He wasn’t ready to leave and it was only two of us, both females at the office.

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KUWAIT: The first impression you get on entering almost any post office in Kuwait is one of neglect. Rundown buildings, staff shortages, outdated communications systems, lack of security and limited efforts to keep the posts office working are clear for all to see.

The post offices and postal service in Kuwait suffers from many shortages which causes hundreds of mails and parcels to go missing. The lack of security is scary, especially for female employees.

"It was scary, when a drunk man entered the post office one evening and harassed us. He wasn't ready to leave and it was only two of us, both females at the office. Luckily our supervisor was nearby and rushed to our rescue," the female employee told Kuwait Times. The employees have sent thousands of complaints to the Ministry of Communication, but there is no response from their side.

"We complained repeatedly to the Ministry demanding a security staff to be working here especially past noon, but never received a reply. Also we don't have any security machine to check the parcels that people bring in for delivery. There used to be one 12 years back, which stopped working. On asking the Ministry to fix it, they simply removed it and never replaced it," complained the director of the same post office, who wished to stay anonymous.

There is no security at all. The backdoors to the post office are open to the street and any unauthorized person can enter in. The ministry has banned the office from locking the back entrance, also the lock to the room containing important parcels is broken, and so anyone can easily steal objects. The staff working at the post office has to fix the broken objects on their own expense. "It's ridiculous to ask the employees to replace lamps, door locks, printers, and many more things from their own pocket."

"We also have to buy shelves, gloves or any stationary needed. Despite of all this, we never receive any allowances or security from any dangerous situations. We once found a mouse in the big sack of letters. Some parcels can also contain dangerous materials or even a bomb, that we won't be aware of due to lack of security, added the director.

Due to shortage of staff, the basement containing the P.O. boxes remains closed in the afternoon. "I think it's sad that people cannot reach their mails in the afternoon, knowing that most people are employees who work in the morning, and that they can only access the boxes from 8 am to 12 pm. And they don't receive it within a month, the mails are gathered in a big sack and burnt. This process is followed for mails that are not registered or they are sent back to the sender if it is not received by the recipient.

"The officials at the ministry are aware of all the issues and yet don't care unless, it is related to them or an important person. Once, a European secretary of a minister came looking for her parcel and complained about the poor services. We then received calls from the minister's office asking to resolve the issue. They did find the parcel, not at the post office but at the airport," concluded the director.

By Nawara Fattahova