Independence Movement leader Michel Moawad said Monday that Lebanon’s centralized government has failed to initiate any meaningful reforms as demonstrated by the ongoing trash crisis.

Moawad added that the government continues to turn a blind eye to rampant corruption in state institutions despite growing popular demands for reform.

“Experience has proved that accountability can be enforced more effectively at the local level,” Moawad said, urging the implementation of decentralization to bolster transparency and fight corruption in Lebanon.

Moawad was speaking at the inauguration ceremony of a rural tourism project in Barouk.

The project is part of the BALADI program, a five-year initiative undertaken by the Rene Moawad Foundation and funded by the the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) in Lebanon.

Moawad argued that a number of local authorities have succeeded where the government has failed.

For instance, Jbeil municipality is collecting and managing its waste at a low cost while Zahle’s Electricity company is generating power around the clock, Moawad explained.

“If local authorities were in charge of economic development within a decentralized framework, we would have resolved the electricity and garbage crisis,” he noted, urging the quick implementation of decentralization.

Until then, the Rene Moawad Foundation will continue to support municipalities across Lebanon with the aim of bolstering rural development, Moawad added.

“$170,000 is relatively a small investment in rural tourism but it can make a difference. The project is expected to attract more than 3,000 tourists annually, thus generating jobs and bolstering commercial activity,” Moawad said.

Tourism Minister Michel Pharaon, who attended the inauguration ceremony, also urged the government to implement administrative decentralization in a bid to fight corruption.