Change and Reform Accuses Salam of Usurping President's Jurisdiction on Decrees
The Change and Reform parliamentary bloc on Tuesday accused Prime Minister Tammam Salam of infringing on the Christian president's jurisdiction in the issuance of so-called presidential decrees, hours after the bloc's ministers and their Hizbullah allies walked out of a tense cabinet session.
“The decrees fall under the jurisdiction of the president and it is the only jurisdiction left for the president (after the Taef Accord) and the premier is infringing on it,” Foreign Minister Jebran Bassil said after the bloc's weekly meeting.
Even “normal decrees require the signatures of the 24 ministers or all the ministerial blocs in the event of a presidential vacuum and we won't accept the usurpation of the president's last remaining jurisdiction,” Bassil stressed.
He noted that consensus in the cabinet is a “constitutional stipulation” amid a presidential vacuum.
“Anything else would be an attempt to undermine partnership,” the FM warned.
Turning to the unprecedented waste management crisis, Bassil noted that “it would've been useful had we exerted more efforts in 2010, together with the people, to avoid this fabricated garbage crisis.”
He pointed out that the crisis is being “exploited politically” with the aim of pressuring the Free Patriotic Movement.
“Developing Akkar to exploit it in the waste management issue is an attempt to underestimate people's intelligence,” he said.
Addressing civil society protesters who have been demonstrating against the government for weeks now over the trash problem, Bassil said that “launching corruption accusations against everyone does not benefit those demanding an end to corruption,” noting that the FPM had exerted efforts over the past years to avoid the current garbage crisis.
During an extraordinary cabinet session earlier in the day, the cabinet agreed to annul the results of the waste management tender that were announced on Monday, after they were rejected by both activists and parties represented in the government.
The government also agreed to dedicate 100 million dollars to set up a temporary dump in the impoverished northern region of Akkar. The dump will only be established for three years.
The funds will also be used for development projects in the area.
The waste management bids will be referred once again to the concerned ministerial committee, said Information Minister Ramzi Jreij after the session.
A number of politicians had voiced their rejection of the bids due to their “high prices.”
Y.R.
M.T.
| Copyright © 2012 Naharnet.com. All Rights Reserved. | https://www.naharnet.com/stories/en/188305 |