Michael Karam: Lebanese government’s best intentions on economy go awry

Lebanon's statement of intent to ease the economic woes of its citizens will have to be seen to be believed, writes Michael Karam.

So last week, the new Lebanese government outlined its statement of intent – or in other words, what it says it will do for its long-suffering citizenry to ease their economic woes. And by golly it looked impressive. The main aim, we were told, was to restore investor confidence, create jobs and achieve sustainable economic growth. For the first time in years a budget will be approved; there’s a promise of structural reforms as well as infrastructure and economic development projects.

Particular attention will be paid to what the government has identified as key sectors: tourism, industry and agriculture, while the energy ministry has wasted no time in resurrecting plans to sort out the necessary decrees and laws needed to woo back international interest in the licensing, exploration and extraction of Lebanon’s fabled hydrocarbon resources. The state also wants to develop IT and telecoms, creating a more efficient, faster and cheaper broadband and mobile network. Seriously.

And if you thought that the government had ducked its responsibilities by ignoring the water and electricity shortage that has plagued the Lebanese for 41 years, have no fear. The state has said it will “immediately” get to work solving the chronic lack of public services – including water and electricity – as well as dealing with the nightmare traffic that plagues Lebanon’s woefully inadequate roads. It also has said it will clear up the mountains of rubbish that have stained what was left of our international image and clean the Litani river in South Lebanon. We really are rolling up our sleeves, aren’t we?

But we’re not done quite yet. We’re also going to see a renewed fight against poverty; get a new, improved public healthcare system and a better education for “all” children – presumably that includes Palestinians and Syrians.

I know what you’re thinking. Surely that’s it, but no, they’ve saved what is surely the best for last: Wait for it … there’s going to be a “national strategy” to fight corruption and fraud by abolishing any political influence over the civil service, which in future will be staffed by competent appointees.

Brilliant … and of course not so much a tissue of lies, but a whole linen cupboard of falsehoods. First off, governments traditionally work as one and yet anyone who bothered to read the story in last week’s local news in which a certain Inaya Ezzeddine called on the government to invest in material infrastructure and human resources ahead of renewed work on the oil and gas file, would be forgiven for thinking she was an opposition MP or a civil soc­iety activist and not the new minister for something called Administrative Development.

I see it as an indication that we have yet another cabinet that cannot sing from the same song sheet.

And then we have a long and glorious precedent in making empty promises. In 2010, the then energy minister Gebran Bassil, now the foreign minister, pledged that the country would have 24-hour power by 2015. In those days he was the golden boy of the Free Patriotic Movement, a party that prided itself on its technocrat credentials, but even he bombed big time. Two years later things are worse then ever. To be fair to Mr Bassil, successive energy ministers all made similar claims and it’s a wonder so many Lebanese keep drinking the Kool-Aid.

So no apparent unity; no institutional credibility and no real ability or interest in gripping real issues.

Last week, it emerged that a rubbish dump, perilously close to Beirut’s Rafik Hariri International Airport, was attracting flocks of seagulls that posed a threat to aircraft taking off and landing.

The dump was shut down by a court order but, in a move of startling incompetence and insensitivity, Middle East Airlines, Lebanon’s national carrier, apparently supported by the ministry of the environment (you can’t make this stuff up), hired, and bussed-in local “hunters” – I use the term advisedly – to massacre hundreds of birds. Hunting is illegal in Lebanon and the government has pledged to protect the environment. To make matters even more awkward, Lebanon is a signatory of the 1999 African-Eurasian Migratory Waterbird Agreement, which protects the seagull.

So back to the ministerial statement: let’s just say I’m not holding my breath.

Michael Karam is a freelance writer who lives between Beirut and Brighton.

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