March 14: Mikati Cabinet paralyzed by feuds

March 14 politicians took aim Thursday at the government after a row over appointments derailed a session of the Cabinet, saying that its warring factions were mired in corruption, infighting, and possibly stalling for time ahead of the renewal of the mandate of the Special Tribunal for Lebanon. Prime Minister Najib Mikati abruptly urged that the Cabinet adjourn Wednesday after a disagreement arose on approving appointments to the state bureaucracy, when ministers from the Free Patriotic Movement objected, saying they hadn’t been fully briefed on the matter. Lebanese Forces leader Samir Geagea said the government was “staining the image of Lebanon,” adding that “we are paying the price of a government [dominated by] one group – even the president has declared that he is dissatisfied with its work.” The LF leader told a news conference that Wednesday’s adjournment “might be a preparatory move to a more precise division of the spoils,” referring to the government’s announced intention to lease electricity-generating ships and award contracts for the electricity sector. Geagea, discussing the future of the Mikati-led Cabinet one day after Syrian President Bashar Assad was quoted as saying he favored seeing stability in Lebanon, said: “I have a solution – the resignation of President Assad, so that the entire problem between Lebanon and Syria can be treated.” The LF leader urged for a government of technocrats to be formed to replace Mikati’s Cabinet, whose infighting meant that “average citizens are paying the price.” Batroun lawmaker Antoine Zahra, an LF official, blamed the FPM for trying to “take all of the posts [reserved for Christians] in the state via appointments,” adding that the FPM claims to “represent the Christians.” “Governments are temporary but the state bureaucracy is permanent in Lebanon, and filling vacant posts can’t take place in the absence of a fundamentally important group of Lebanese, represented by March 14, which is outside the government,” Zahra said. The MP added that the government’s various factions were unproductive in office – “they are unable to produce, and unable to resign.” For his part, Chouf MP Nidal Tohme said the government, made up of diverse groups, was “unable to retain the minimum level of gains that have been achieved by the Lebanese” following the 2005 uprising against Syrian tutelage. “Let the resignation [of this government] serve as a correction of [the country’s] path. It’s as if no one is seeing that the ship is sinking,” he said. Beirut MP Ammar Houri, from the Future Movement bloc, said: “There is more than one problem in the Cabinet, and they are always centered around the Free Patriotic Movement.” “It uses sectarianism at times, and the issue of reform and change [the FPM’s slogan] at others, but these things are hidden from no one,” the lawmaker added. “The conclusion is that Hezbollah and the Syrians ... want to take the government toward caretaker status before the end of the month, i.e. before the renewal of the Special Tribunal for Lebanon,” he added. His colleague in the Future Movement, Beirut MP Jean Hogasapian, called the Mikati Cabinet a “quasi-government – it’s a group of governments that meet together around the same table, and it’s brain dead.” Speaking during a radio interview, Hogasapian said Mikati would be unable to resign, since such a decision was in the hands of Hezbollah, which along with other March 8 groups dominates the Cabinet. “And one of the big problems in this government lies in the mentality of the Aoun faction,” Hogasapian added, referring to the FPM. “Inside the Cabinet, there is talk that accuses the FPM of being the faction that is most corrupt, and outside the law.” Beirut - The Daily star