Sayyed Hussein’s Appointment as LU Head Draws Reservations of Jumblat’s Ministers

The cabinet appointed former Minister Adnan Sayyed Hussein as the head of the Lebanese University on Wednesday despite reservations expressed by ministers loyal to Progressive Socialist Party leader Walid Jumblat.

Ministerial sources told An Nahar daily on Thursday that the reservation came over the political reasons that led to the appointment of Hizbullah’s candidate. Jumblat’s ministers said there were better academicians for the post.

Sayyed Hussein was the11th minister to resign from former Premier Saad Hariri’s cabinet in January after the ministers of Hizbullah and its March 8 allies also resigned, leading to the collapse of the government.

During its session at Baabda palace, the cabinet also approved a draft law to increase the salaries of LU professors and formed a ministerial committee to propose the level of raise.

But the decision angered the head of the executive council of the university teachers, Charbel Kfouri, who told al-Liwaa newspaper that they would move to a different stage of an open-ended strike at all faculties until their demands are met.

The professors are demanding raises similar to a law approved last month to double the wages of judges.

“We are not beggars and the state should be fair with us,” Kfouri told As Safir daily. “We should be equal with the judges.”

Another thorny issue that was discussed by cabinet ministers, was the protest of Mansouriyeh-Ain Saadeh residents over a decision to install high-voltage electricity lines in the region.

Interior Minister Marwan Charbel informed the government that around 450 members of the Internal Security Forces were deployed in the area to prevent the protest from turning violent.

Some ministers criticized Energy Minister Jebran Bassil for rejecting the installment of the lines when he was telecom minister and for supporting it now.

The cabinet decided to make contacts with the protestors to convince them that studies show that installing the lines underground poses more dangers to human health.

However, the government avoided discussing the infiltration of Syrian troops into Lebanese territories in the north and east.

The ministers agreed to meet again Tuesday at the Grand Serail and Wednesday at Baabda palace.