President Michel Suleiman said Tuesday that the state should from now on work for the public good and recruit competent civil servants rather than be governed by the politicians’ personal interests.

“The efforts in the next stage should focus on turning the state from a state of personal benefits and sectarian and regional division of shares into a state (that works for the) public good and whose doors are open for all competencies in state institutions seeking to achieve sustainable development,” Suleiman told his visitors at Baabda palace.

Former General Security chief Jamil al-Sayyed slammed on Monday Prime Minister Najib Miqati’s assumption of the premiership, accusing him of only serving his personal interests.

He told MTV television: “His position at the head of the government is the biggest catastrophe for Lebanon.”

Cabinet sessions, which were suspended on Feb. 1, are likely to resume this week after President Michel Suleiman and Premier Najib Miqati reportedly agreed to call on the government to convene immediately after Labor Minister Charbel Nahhas signs a controversial transportation allowance decree.

Suleiman and Miqati, who met at Baabda palace on Monday, held onto their stance on the necessity for Nahhas to sign the decree “before anything else,” An Nahar daily reported.

Sources close to Speaker Nabih Berri expressed optimism that Labor Minister Charbel Nahhas would sign a controversial transportation allowances decree before a parliamentary session scheduled to be held on Wednesday.

The sources told An Nahar and As Safir dailies on Monday that Nahhas could sign the decree in the next few days, paving way for parliament to approve it and allowing the cabinet to annex it to a recent wage hike.

Discussions over the transportation allowance may be postponed until after Wednesday’s parliamentary session should political powers fail to reach a solution for the dispute, reported the daily An Nahar on Sunday.

Prime Minister Najib Miqati’s sources told the daily however that they expect the transportation allowance bill to be signed before Wednesday.

President Michel Suleiman rejected claims that the government is comprised of a single political camp, noting that the disputes among its members demonstrate his point.

He told the daily al-Mustaqbal in remarks published on Sunday: “Whenever cabinet votes on a decision, a minister is obligated to approve it.”

The renewal of the protocol signed between the Lebanese government and the Special Tribunal for Lebanon will likely take effect soon after Beirut failed to make its observations, al-Liwaa daily reported Saturday.

The newspaper said that a document calling on the U.N. Security Council to renew the tribunal’s mandate became part of the official U.N. documents on Friday at around 5:00 pm New York time and will likely be approved soon if the Council expresses no reservations on it.

Al-Mustaqbal bloc MP Nabil de Freij has sought to find a way out for the cabinet dispute over the controversial transportation and education allowances by proposing an urgent draft law to be discussed by the parliament next Wednesday.

According to al-Liwaa newspaper published on Friday, de Freij’s proposal to set the amount of the transportation and education allowances might force the cabinet to endorse the draft law, ending the three-week crisis.

President Michel Suleiman stated on Thursday that the dispute over the transportation allowance must not be left unresolved, reported the National News Agency.

He demanded that all cabinet decisions be respected “in accordance with the mechanism that has been adopted for 16 years.”

Prime Minister Najib Miqati reiterated on Thursday that averting the cabinet crisis depends on the ministers who should implement the government’s decisions, According to An Nahar newspaper.

“I am definite that (Free Patriotic Movement leader) MP Michel Aoun, who is keen to maintain the cabinet’s credibility, will give (Labor) Minister Charbel Nahhas the right advice,” Miqati told the daily.