PM Says Govt. 'Incompetent' but Won't Quit and 'Plunge Country into Vacuum'

Prime Minister Tammam Salam admitted Tuesday that his government is “fruitless and incompetent” but stressed that he will not resign out of fear that the country would plunge into total political vacuum in the absence of a president.

“As the prime minister of Lebanon, I have not hesitated to say that the government is fruitless and incompetent, but what's stopping me from acting accordingly is only the ethical and national responsibility and the fear of pushing the country into the abyss of vacuum,” said Salam at an iftar banquet for the Dar al-Aytam association in Beirut.

His remarks come a few days after the Kataeb Party decided to withdraw its ministers from the government and accused it of corruption and failure in addressing the country's affairs.

“The current situation in the country is alarming because the State is suppressed, its prestige is eroded and its decision on many issue is usurped,” Salam added.

He lamented that “a lot of politicians have lost the ability to differentiate between noble national politics and narrow-minded practices that are only aimed at serving partisan interests regardless of the costs.”

Salam also warned that “the stability we have enjoyed in the past five years is not an infinite and irreversible situation unless we seek to immunize it.”

“Perform your national duty and immediately elect a president so that we restore regularity in institutions and revive the political life and so that we embark on building our country and protecting it from the repercussions of the regional events,” the premier added.

Salam also noted that two pillars have prevented the collapse of the country – the military and security institutions and the economic and financial sectors, “especially the business and banking sectors.”

Y.R.