In this case, Putt's Law is very relevant. Putt's Law states that "Technology is dominated by two types of people: those who understand what they do not manage, and those who manage what they do not understand".
Putt's Corollary notes that "Every technical hierarchy, in time, develops a competence inversion, with incompetence being flushed out of the lower levels of a technical hierarchy, ensuring that technically competent people remain directly in charge of the actual technology while those without technical competence move into management".
Sounds familiar? From my years in the Middle East, very familiar.