The campaign for Administrative Reforms that has been going on for the last few weeks in Lebanon is far from fulfilling its declared objectives. In reality, it is a very superficial process, a façade that will reach nowhere. The process of firing public employees in massive numbers is exactly like massively penalizing them. This is by no means a process of administrative reform. It is a means of freeing high-ranking positions and giving them to individuals who are loyal to the new regime. What the Hoss government is doing, is an implementation of the principle “every reign has its men”. Mr. Raffic Hariri, the ex-Prime Minister, followed the same principle six years ago when Syria appointed him in office.
In an actual reform process, those employees accused of committing atrocities have to be charged and tried. This is a proper process that sets an example of true justice to all concerned. If it is true, as the Hoss government announced, that the number of employees who committed atrocities is very high, then the government members and Prime Minister should bear the responsibility. Especially when the current illegal Taef regime has been in power since 1990, and its figures are well known to the Lebanese people to have been accusing each other of corruption publicly at the end of Hariri’s reign. Surprisingly, Hariri, after being dragged out of office, is now rhetorically defending the constitution…..What a mockery?
Watching this governmental
charade, one wonders:
Why the accused employees were not charged and their cases referred to the judiciary
system?
Why some of these employees were given ministerial portfolios, even without clearing them
legally?
What happened to ex- Minister of Financial Affairs, Mr. Fouad Sanyoura, and what happened
to the accusations he is facing? And what happened to the documents Mr. Sanyoura
intentionally destroyed before leaving office?
The other question is: How come
Mr. Michel Al Mur, the notorious Minster of Interior in the Hariri ex-government, was
given the same portfolio in the new Hoss cabinet?
How could Mr. Mur continue to be a Minister for the same ministry after his well known
scandals?
His scandals, among many others, included: crimes of perjury during the 1992, and 1996
parliamentary elections, participation in the illegal naturalization of more than four
hundred thousand foreigners in 1994, and registering the newly naturalized foreigners in
specific Lebanese regions intended to disrupt the historically balanced demography of
Lebanon, cheating in the Workers Unions elections, and making a fortune illegally from car
metal plates.
The worst mistake a ruler could commit is covering up the atrocities of his subordinates by interfering with justice process and the judiciary system. In Lebanon no one atrocity remains in the dark forever and no crime committed passes unobserved.
Wise officials repent and learn from their experience, while others, who have been blinded by greed and subservience, are like the moth that keeps flying around the flame, till it burns itself.
Long Live Free Lebanon!
France. January 17/1999
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