Congratulations on the new government ...

Friday, Nov 13 2009

Finally, we are in a position to talk of a national unity government which comprises ministers from both the ruling authority and the opposition who have monopolized the political arena for the past 5 years. We can also finally liberate the political powers, the powers of the civil community, the institutions, sectarian figures and independent figures from having to align themselves behind one of other group. And thus, it has become possible and feasible to work with the prospective government as a single group which comprises the two sides of the conflict, enabling Lebanon to enter a new political phase with an opposition watching over the work of the government and dealing with the desires of the citizens in a modern way using democratic means.

We hope that the hard work leading to the formation of the government, with which the Lebanese people have lived for over the past 4 months, will enable Lebanese politicians to get used to consultation and consensus without consulting their sectarian or confessional audience to exert pressure in a particular direction.

It is precisely for this reason that President Suleiman stated repeatedly his intention to create the new government in order to launch the conciliations. He hopes that this government will launch his reign and will bring with it the disengagement of entanglements following years of clashes between the opposition and the ruling authority, with the President dealing with two rounds of dialogue and consensus both in his constitutional and his national roles. These will be the workshop for the ministerial statement and for dialogue surrounding the defence strategy of Lebanon. This is in addition to his desire to open up several conciliation files whether administrative, political or constitutional, which he has repeatedly declared his intention to do.

We hold in very high regard the repeated demands of President Suleiman for constitutional reform, particularly regarding the powers of the President of the Republic and to which he recently added his suggestion to adjust the powers of the three leaders. Since his election in Doha in 2008, the President has been constrained by prior agreements and by many priorities which delayed the proper start of his reign, from the formation of the first government until following the parliamentary elections of 2009. His reign was then left hanging in time due to the lack of a government for some 5 months which only served to increase the President's enthusiasm for the reconstruction of the country. There is no doubt that the President aspires to complete the meetings of the dialogue table and to achieve national conciliation - in practice, this should simply be the creation of a national unity government which has already been done! - and the creation of a healthy, serious well-established relationship with Syria, and the commitment of the national unity government that Lebanon will not be a pathway of base for any organization, force or state working to undermine its security or that of Syria, in accordance with the principle that Lebanon's security and Syria's are closely intertwined.

The restoration of security and stability on various levels - political, economic and administrative - is crucial, as is the consideration of the Lebanese citizen on the basis of equality and social justice while maintaining pluralism in Lebanese society. Serious consideration also has to be given to the needs of these citizens in light of the protracted neglect under which they have lived and continue to live. These include reports of the damage caused by pesticides used in agriculture and agricultural produce in the markets, the repeated talk of bad meat whose import is unsupervised, the effects of the H1N1 virus and other issues related to the neglect and corruption of the state.

What will the citizen benefit - no matter what group in belongs to - if the conciliation takes place not on the basis of administrative modernization but against a background of the sharing of quotas between the political groups? Certainly nothing, and the nation and its people will remain vulnerable to the dangers of a corrupt system.

What is required here is the securing of political, financial and popular support for the implementation of administrative reform, removing the involvement of the politicians and dealing with any breach through the sanctions laid out in the law to try ministers and leaders, and the revitalization of the role of the regulatory bodies while providing support. In short, what is required is the elimination of corruption, bribery and quotas, and the reduction of wasteful spending which results from political support and family and sectarian considerations. Here we need to emphasize that the cancellation of sectarianism will allow for the proper assessment of officials, without fear of this turning into an issue between the sects.

Will the conditions in which this government was created, with all their internal and external obstacles, allow for issues relating to reform of any kind to be raised, particularly in light of the regional milieu which may have serious repercussions on Lebanon, not least of which is the Arab-Israeli settlement following the confusion and hesitation which characterizes the policy and steps of the Obama administration? In all honesty, we have concerns, particularly given that there are those inside Lebanon who still want the country to remain an arena for regional and international political interactions and trade-offs, in accordance with the latest regional developments.

Lebanon deserves a government which is up to its ambitions, which is determined and which has behind it the will of the people - a government which is able to build trust, to strengthen the concept of nationhood, to stem the tide of civil strife, to limit sectarianism, to eliminate corruption and the corrupt, to stop the brain drain of its youth and to establish the state of Lebanon without any distinction or discrimination between its citizens.

Accordingly, we at the National Dialogue Party, believe that with the formation of the national unity government, it is necessary that we establish an integrated plan which will pave the way for a comprehensive national awakening to address the issues relating to Lebanese national affairs, both internal and external. This starts with the governing crisis passing through the parliamentary election law and Lebanese-Syrian relations. We must also seriously work to deal with the economic situation in order to get out of the problem of the public debt and the servicing of its payments. The true basis for reform, change and renewal, in addition to the above, lies in parliamentary elections taking place under a fair electoral law which depends on proportional representation, even if this takes a while!

Congratulations to the new national unity government.