From his first day, Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman sought to gain his legitimacy through making promises of major economic reforms, beginning with the Saudization project, and the privatization of government assets and services, all of which were deemed to failures.
Bin Salman promised the youth of Saudi Arabia a luxurious life in a country based on a diversified economy that does not depend on the rise or fall of oil prices.
In the beginning, bin Salman succeeded in making the young people believe his promises, however, they gained nothing but disappointment and they recognized the weakness of his abilities and the false promises.
The challenges facing the Kingdom forced bin Salman to step back, and he began to increase taxes on citizens and to stop all kinds of benefits and aids to help them with the high cost of living.
The major scandal of bin Salman after murdering Khashoggi and the arrest of important figures of the society was the plan to offer 5% of the value of Aramco, the giant oil company that brings income to the Saudi regime and list it on the stock exchange.
MBS made false promises as he is in urgent need of cash as the debt of the country reached 12.5 billion dollars in government bonds, and this is a shameful precedent in the history of the Kingdom.
The Saudi youth faced unemployment, and the decreasing of job opportunities due to the great imbalance that plagued the Kingdom’s markets thanks to the failed policies of bin Salman.
His policies in the labor market forced the expatriate workers in the Kingdom, and the owners of capital, to leave the Kingdom, which affected the labor market and the opportunities for young people.
MBS tried to restore image among the youth of the Kingdom. He announced a set of measures to fight corruption and recover the people’s money from the princes, but the young people were shocked again as international news confirmed him buying a house, a luxury boat, and a painting, as well as squandering the kingdom's money on buying protection from former US President Donald Trump.
MBS did not realize the seriousness is his removal of all experienced princes in governance and arresting them, which made the ruling family for the first time in its history divided against itself and not united over a single crown prince for them. This in itself poses s a great danger for the future of bin Salman.
The Saudi crown prince is not liked at home and has a bad reputation abroad due to his disgraceful human rights record.
The question remains: would bin Salman fulfill his promises, or would the youth continue to go through despair and frustration thanks to the failure of his vision and lack of experience?
