The president of the Independence Movement Michel Moawad reiterated his support to the Presidential Mandate and to the Christian Agreement. He called for the expansion of this agreement to include all parties with no exceptions, “even those who insist on excluding themselves”.
Targeting the Hezbollah General-Secretary, Moawad said: “What does the threatening of ‘gathering hundreds of thousands of militants from anywhere and everywhere’ mean? What about the information that is being circulated, and confirmed by Iran, about the building of arms and missiles factories in Lebanon, outside the Lebanese State’s control? Is this to invite Israel to attack Lebanon and turn it into a field of open confrontations, replacing other places confrontations? Are we accepting that someone forces on us a new ‘Defence Strategy’ outside a national agreement or a national consensus?”
Talking about the uncontrolled carrying of weapons, Moawad emphasized that “the problem is not the Security Forces’ lack of power and capabilities, but the ‘politically protected areas and neighbourhoods’, the corruption of some judges and the absence of a political umbrella given to the Security Forces. It is a fact that the Security Forces are granted the needed unanimous political umbrellas to fight terrorism and terrorists, but don’t have the same political green light to track down the criminals who enjoy a political protection.”
About reforms and fighting corruption, Moawad stressed on the need to reach an economic overall vision based on: imposing serious austerity measures, reducing the number of public employees, moving towards governmental e-services, imposing the necessary measures that protect and facilitate investments in the country, a serious fight of corruption by re-empowering the State’s inspection institutions, and inviting the private sector to manage the essential public services.
About Zgharta, Moawad revealed that the ‘other party’ has disavowed the agreement that was reached for the last municipal elections, even though the agreement was done with Minister Suleiman Frangieh personally.
Moawad announced the launching of a municipal opposition movement at various levels. He explained that the opposition will be driven by development, and is not of a political nature. It is a ‘development opposition’ that will interact with all the strata of society in Zgharta; an intransigent opposition that will confront all the transgressions. But it will be open to cooperate with all parties, for the common goal of Zgharta’s development.
Moawad held a press conference in Zgharta in the presence of cadres from the Independence Movement, during which he said:
“We have not met since quite some time. There are many matters to tackle and be honest about. We are all responsible towards the public opinion. For 8 years now and after a very long wait, the citizens have been denied the right to give their saying and judge the political leaders through legislative elections. These elections will nevertheless take place now after a long wait and through a new Elections Law. This law was reached after long efforts. It was based on the combination of the two elements: Improving the national partnership, and opening the door for the first time for new forces and a new blood to be represented in the Parliament, through Proportionality.
“With this new law, no one can eliminate another. All the candidates that previously felt they couldn’t reach a Parliamentary seat, can simply group within an alliance and a common list, and get at least one of them elected if the list reaches the required ‘electoral threshold’ of votes. You can thus imagine the level of change that can take place, in all the regions. In short, I say: ‘The period of complaining is over. It is now time for work’.
“But this doesn’t mean that we don’t have remarks regarding the law, amongst which:
– The unjustifiably prolonged extension of the present Parliament till May 2018. This is neither justifiable by technical needs nor by political reasons.
– The absence of a women quota in the law. Such a quota would be a guarantee for women’s participation in political life.
– The non-determination of the independent committee that would oversee the elections.
– Regarding the expatriates voting, I am against limiting their representativeness to 6 seats. I am for allowing each expatriate to vote for the candidates of the electorate he belongs to in Lebanon. This would require the simplification of the procedures of registration and voting.”
Moawad asked: “To give each their due rights: What would have been the outcome of the elections law if the Christian Agreement, which led to the election of a President representing his environment, didn’t exist? The answer is clear: “We would have either held the elections according to the 1960 Law, or the extension would have been imposed on us without the issuing of a new Elections Law.
“If we look back at the last months, we see that if President Michel Aoun wouldn’t have refused to sign the decree calling the electoral bodies for the elections, there was a clear understanding amongst a large number of parties to hold the elections according to the 1960 Law, adopted by the Doha Agreement. If not for the Christian Agreement and President Aoun’s usage for the first time of his powers as per article 59 of the Constitution, a Parliamentary Assembly meeting would have taken place on April 12th , accepted by President Berri despite the objection and boycott of the Christian parties!”
Moawad added: “The learned lesson is that the Christian Agreement has proven that it is a national strategic need in order to bring back balance to the national partnership, and reinstate harmony and stability to the regime and the Taef Agreement. The Christian Agreement, despite all its problems, despite the fact that it revolves around some elements of individuals’ cult, and despite the sometimes misplaced power fights between its components, has led to the election of a President of the Republic, and to the issuing of a new Elections Law after 8 years of failed attempts. It is essential to allow a push towards wide decentralization and other essential matters. Therefore, we as the Independence Movement have backed this agreement and we call for its expansion to include all parties with no exceptions, ‘even those who insist on excluding themselves’.
“The national partnership is essential to bring stability to political life, but this partnership alone is not enough if it is not part of a golden trilogy consisting of sovereignty, partnership and reforms.
Talking about sovereignty, Moawad said: “As the Independence Movement, we have a clear position of refusal for any arms outside the State’s control. Our opinion about the Hezbollah becoming an armed force working across the Lebanese border, in Syria, Iraq and Yemen, is well known. But we considered that the election of President Aoun has brought with it a minimum compromise on the sovereignty’s main elements as it was stated in the Presidential Oath speech and the Independence speech, which were both praised by most of the parties including Hezbollah. The two speeches defined the Lebanese State’s responsibility and the Lebanese Army’s defence duties at the Lebanese boarders. This minimum compromise was reached in order to save Lebanon from the worst, and bring back life to the State’s institutions.
“The big question today is: Why does the Hezbollah work to break this large national compromise? To whose advantage? What does the threatening of ‘gathering hundreds of thousands of militants from anywhere and everywhere’ mean? What about the information that is being circulated, and confirmed by Iran, about the building of arms and missiles factories in Lebanon, outside the Lebanese State’s control? Is this to invite Israel to attack Lebanon and turn it into a field of open confrontations, replacing other places of confrontations? Are we accepting that someone forces on us a new ‘Defence Strategy’ outside a national agreement or a national consensus?
“The Cabinet is asked to bear its responsibilities in this respect. What is taking place today is against the Government’s Ministerial Statement. It brings about a dangerous change which is not acceptable, destructive, and breaks all the attempts to spare Lebanon from the regional fires.”
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“Going side by side with the strategic peril that I described, there is another peril which is of the same critical level, affecting our society and infiltrating it. Since June, and in a period of just 21 days, 19 victims have fallen due to the uncontrolled carrying of weapons. Each victim carries a story that filled our eyes with tears. Each victim has a name, and a family, and had a future to look forward to.
“Today there is a fear for parents even to allow their children to play in front of the house or to go out at night, as no one knows what could happen to them. They might happen to be in the way of someone carrying a gun, and get shot for no reason. This not acceptable anymore! Each of our children is raise with utter care and love. We don’t accept that their ‘cost’ could be a mere bullet!
“Is it possible that our Security Forces, whom we salute with high respect, succeed in protecting the country from catastrophes by facing the terrorists and terrorism with quality preventive operations and with a professionalism that has outclassed the services of some Western countries, and at the same time fail to implement measures to control the carrying of weapons?
“The fact is that the Security Forces are granted the needed unanimous political umbrellas to fight terrorism and terrorists, but don’t have the same political green light to track down the criminals that enjoy a political protection. The problem is not the Security Forces’ lack of power and capabilities, but the ‘politically protected areas and neighbourhoods’ and the corruption of some judges.
“The State needs to re-establish its prestige. In this respect, I call upon the President of the Republic and the Prime Minister to take decisive Cabinet decisions. The various security and judicial bodies must work hand in hand and cooperate to bring an end to this situation. All that is required is one firm decision and to stop the political interventions.
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“The 3rd element in the ‘Sovereignty, Partnership and Reforms’ trilogy are the reforms and the fighting of corruption.
“Since the elections of the President, it has been proven that institutional stability (electing a President, forming a Cabinet, issuing an Elections law) is a necessary factor, but is not enough to put an end to the economic and social catastrophic crisis we are going through:
– The public debt has gone above 77 Billion USD.
– Growth in the first 6 months of 2017 was just 1%.
– Unemployment has reached 30% for the first time in Lebanon (includes the hidden and the obviously seen unemployment). It was merely 9% not so long ago.
– This, in addition to the highly negative indications at the economic, financial and social levels.
“The investors and Lebanese citizen are in fact waiting to see clear visions, plans and bold steps in order to regain their trust in Lebanon’s capacity to get back on the track of productivity and economic prosperity.
“Let us admit that things cannot stay the way they are. Temporary ‘mending’ measures don’t help anymore. It is true that the Government has now presented a budget for 2017, and the Assembly is supposed to endorse it soon despite a few obstacles. This would be the first budget since 2005, which is a positive achievement. One of the reasons behind the spreading of corruption and expenditures without accountability was failing to pass the annual budgets, and spending on the basis of the Provisional Twelfth rule for 11 years now.
“But a budget, in addition to being a law that enumerates all the State’s expenditures and income, is essentially an economic overall vision that denotes the State’s economic strategy for the coming years. I would like to note that the 2017 budget does not include all the expenditures and income: For instance, the cost of hiring for the ships providing electricity power and the funds for the Salary Scale, which is a right for the employees, are not included. This amounts to 2000 Billion L.L., which are not mentioned in the budget. But the real problem in the budget is that it does not hold any reform vision or any clear economic direction.
“In summary, what the 2017 budget is presenting is the acknowledgement of the increased deficit, along with the possibility to increase taxes in order to cover the projected new Salary Scale. It doesn’t include any structural reforms, while we are in a period of economic regression. A similar equation had led to a total economic collapse in Greece, and threatens us to become a ‘Greece-2’, with a major difference that we don’t have a European Union to support us…
“What are the solutions then? The solutions do exist, but they require bravery to get implemented. We are asking for a comprehensive economic vision based on the following elements:
- Strict austerity measures and a reduction of the public employment posts. Awareness campaigns and moving towards e-government services. (We cannot move forward with a budget that has 40% of its expenses on salaries and wages, and that before the new Salary Scale). If we want to talk in figures, the public opinion needs to know that from 1991 to 2014 the public debt was around 37 Billion USD, and this was the period of the after-war reconstruction projects. From 2005 till today, the public debt has exceeded 77 Billion USD, which is an increase of 40 Billion, without us having achieved any political project during this period. This means that we have increased our debt by 40 Billion, with this money being spent on just two matters: First, salaries and wages, due to the excess of public employment triggered by political clientelism. Second, squandering and corruption.
- Take the necessary measures to protect and facilitate investments in the country. How can we invite investors and new investments, if we later make them ‘run away’ because of our bureaucracy, corruption and complicated administrative procedures? This will also require a major judiciary reform that would win-over the trust of investors.
- An uncompromising fighting of corruption. Not ‘fighting corruption’ to be used as a political slogan. This issue is the most important one, as the facts are shown by figures. Our estimation of the ‘black economy’ in Lebanon, which includes smuggling through the ports, the airport and land boarders, tax evasion, briberies and illicit enrichment, is a minimum of 5 Billion USD per year, which is a third of the budget! This is where action must be taken.
With a few measures, we can increase the income to more than 1 Billion USD. This will bring back trust to the citizens and the investors. In this regard, the best solution is the re-empowering of the State’s inspection institutions by giving them all required powers. After that, no one should be able to override the Central Department of Accounts, or the Central Inspection Council, or the Civil Service Board, or the Bureau of Tenders. The rules regulating the Funds that are not subject to prior inspection must be reviewed. We are not able of bearing more corruption and commissions. Either we show a new image and a new way based on empowered institutions or there might be no way back…
- The last measure is inviting the private sector to manage the services that are essential for the Lebanese citizen and the Lebanese economy. The present services not only suffer from corruption, but there is also a lack of competence and capacity. Not only is there a huge culture of corruption, but the services provided are of a very poor quality too…
“Is this how much it takes to run a country of just 10452 km2 with a population of 7 Million (including the foreign refugees)? Is this how much it takes to insure proper electricity, water, communication services and a fast internet? I will like to note here that the cost of electricity has reached 30 Billion USD and still costs us between 1 and 2 Billion yearly depending on the fuel’s cost. Is this how much it takes to fix our waste water problems, and to implement the proper solutions to the Waste catastrophic crisis? Why are the Turkish shores 98% clean and safe for swimming while our shores have either become a garbage dumping place or are confiscated? Don’t we need investors to build proper public transportation services and railways, if not to create underground metro lines? Is this how much it takes to solve the traffic problem between Tabarja and Nahr El Kalb, the whole distance being just a few kilometres?
“The State has no capacity to get more loans to implement these projects. The State doesn’t have the competence, nor the transparency to manage these sectors. Therefore, the solution is the participation of the private sector, which has proved its dynamism, capacity and success in Lebanon. The State will retain the power of inspection.
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“We have exposed the corruption and lack of reform planning at the level of the country, therefore, no one would expect from us to keep quiet about the corruption and bad administration at the level of our ‘local government’…
“I sure didn’t wish to have to raise my voice and condemn what is happening at the Zgharta municipal level, just one year after the Municipal Elections in which I was a main partner for building the basis of the agreement that was reached.
“Those that were against the agreement can say today: ‘We did give you our advice and we did warn you’. The Municipal Elections agreement that I worked for with the ‘Marada Movement’ included the elections in Zgharta as a city, the elections at the level of the Union of Municipalities and the elections in the Zgharta Caza villages, wherever this was possible. The agreement included also the Zgharta families, the local instances, the Christian political parties present in Zgharta (The ‘Lebanese Forces’ and the ‘Tayyar’), and notables from the civil societies. The 3 main elements behind the agreement were:
- Not to allow the Municipal Elections to become an occasion for Presidential score-settling, at the expense of development in Zgharta-Zawiyat.
- The fact that our municipal opposition from outside the municipality since 1998 hadn’t succeed in bringing about development and reforms.
- The fact that there was an essential partner in the agreement, Toni Frangieh, whom I believe that I have gained as a personal friend regardless of our political differences. I believed in walking side by side on the path towards bringing development and reforms to our city and region in a dedicated way. I believed that proper development required a strong leadership at the Union of Municipalities level, and reforms and institutionalization at the level of the city of Zgharta.
“We agreed on supporting Dr Habib Torbey to head the Union of Municipalities, and work with him to establish and implement a comprehensive vision. The agreement regarding the Zgharta Municipality was to study together all the details and work together to implement all that is required for reforms, transparency, development and institutionalization.
“Today, if we look back 13 months after the agreement and the elections, what has happened over this past year?
- The agreement at the level of the Union of Municipalities, which was an essential part of the general agreement, has been disclaimed even though this was agreed upon with Minister Suleiman Frangieh personally. Did we in Zgharta reach this level of discarding what we commit for? Do agreements require from now on a public notary?
It is sad to have reached this point, especially that after I enquired with Minister Frangieh personally, his answer was that if we don’t agree on running together in the Parliamentary Elections, he would need the Union for his campaign… I honestly don’t wish to expand more on this! - Regarding the Zgharta Municipality, all we heard and are still hearing are repeated promises to us and to members of the municipal council. Whether this is related to the employees and the application of the Labor Law, or to the procedures used for new employment, or the activation of the committees, or the procedures used for purchases and transparency, or the publication of the accounts after auditing, or putting a strategic development plan.
These promises remained till this day mere promises, if I don’t want to say lies… No action was taken to come up with a reform plan to deal with the employees’ matter. New employments took place without respecting any criteria and without informing the Municipal Council. There is a monopolized and discriminatory attitude in taking municipal decisions, and a total marginalisation of the Municipal Council and the committees. The Municipal Council was put in a situation of ‘fait accompli’ to execute agreements with third parties, instead of going through the procedures of calling for bids and tenders. Even the new procedures of purchasing that were announced after a whole of pressures were not implemented, except for buying coffee and sugar for the municipality… - And what to say about the transparency? Not only were the accounts of the municipality not published, but even the minutes of meetings were not made according to the regulations. It took a whole year – till the 4th of June – for the minutes of the first municipal meeting to get signed, and that because of the pressures that we put. Before that there was no minutes signed according to their proper dates, and no minutes mentioning and noting the discussions and objections!
“All this is happening despite our repeated communication with all the parties from Day 1, whether at the political level or with the Mayor trying to fix the situation that was worsening with time, trying to correct what was happening before it becomes too late. But, since December 2016, neither the political contacts helped, nor the communication with the Mayor, nor the opposition from within the Municipal Council.
“Therefore, after 7 months of trying and of opposition from inside the council, we have decided to move towards organizing ourselves to lead a full scale municipal opposition.
“It is an opposition based and motivated by development ideals, and not a political opposition at all.
“What would positively affect our position is development work alone. Political differences won’t affect our position. Political agreements will not make us accept the infractions in the municipality’s work, against our convictions. And at the same time, we won’t let political differences block any municipal achievements. Let them work for achievements or implement reforms, and they will see that we will be by their side and even in front of them.
“Our ‘development opposition’ will not be political. It will interact with all the social strata in Zgharta. It will be a stern opposition, against all infractions and wrongdoings. We will remain open to cooperate with anyone for the development in Zgharta.
The opposition will start from inside the Municipal Council. It will not betray any program that the municipality endorsed during the Municipal Elections. It is an opposition that will use all the institutional, popular, media, legal, judicial and administrative tools, with no exceptions.
“This opposition will never give up. It won’t leave the battlefield. Our representatives inside the Municipal Council will supervise all the infractions and wrongdoings. They have access to figures and won’t keep quiet about anything. Development in Zgharta is not exclusive to the Independence Movement, nor is it exclusive to this family or that family. Public roads belong to all. Dealing with the Rachiine river pollution is for everyone’s benefit. The Ehden waters and the Zgharta waters belong to all. Traffic rules belong to all… Lighting the streets belongs to all… The municipality’s finances belong to all, to all the people of Zgharta without any exception and regardless of their political or family belonging… ‘Zgharta is for all of us. It holds space for all’.”
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