Thursday, December 16, 2010

Lebanon’s Cabinet had several options before it when it met Wednesday, ostensibly to “discuss” the issue of so-called false witnesses, or those who are suspected of misleading the probe into Rafik Hariri’s assassination
Politicians have lobbed concrete proposals at each other in recent weeks, and there was perhaps a face-saving way out: postponing the issue until a certain amount of time goes by. But the country didn’t even get that.

Instead, the long-awaited discussion of “Item 1” on the agenda crashed and burned. President Michel Sleiman adjourned the session, and no date has been set for the next go-round.

This means the business of government is now in the freezer, not just on the back burner, until further notice. It tells the Lebanese, and the country’s neighbors, and foreign investors that Lebanon is headed for the holidays, and 2011, in a state of paralysis. Cabinet is stalled because of the rigidity of all parties, irrespective of who is right or wrong. Politicians want only their view to prevail, while the current set of constitutional institutions and other mechanisms offer no way out.

There must be a way to settle political differences through institutional means, or else the system needs amending. Ministers in such a government must act as if they are all equal; they’re also expected to find a way to discuss controversial issues, which will inevitably arise. They cannot use arsenals of weapons, or extremist sectarian rhetoric, to back their claims.

Taking part in a democracy based o

n the rule of law means that there are obvious guidelines: the Constitution and other laws.

These worrying domestic conditions, as accusations of treasonous behavior abound, will produce further paralysis and block any moves toward building a functional system that allows citizens to benefit.

Instead, people hear the latest news about a deteriorating political system and start thinking of ways out. In Lebanon, this could mean going East (“temporarily” to the Gulf) or west (possibly emigrating for good).
Politicians have been spouting the usual rhetoric – about the need to see the government pay attention, if not give priority to, people’s daily affairs.

Some might say the latest inability of the Cabinet to meet means uncertainty about tomorrow.
It’s not so much tomorrow, as ministers aren’t staying home; they’re going to their offices and processing routine work. But urgent national policies – social, economic, judicial, environmental etc. – are nowhere to be found in a situation of executive paralysis.

This newspaper, like others in Lebanon and abroad, can’t emphasize the seriousness of the situation enough, which if left untreated, will send Lebanon into the darkest of tunnels. Lebanon’s unity government seems to have become a caretaker Cabinet.