Bassil: Rotation of Power in Cabinet is Aimed at Eliminating the Other
إقرأ هذا الخبر بالعربية
Caretaker Energy Minister Jebran Bassil stated on Sunday that the concept of rotation of power in cabinet is aimed at retaking the Energy Ministry portfolio from the Free Patriotic Movement.
He said during a press conference: “Rotation of power in cabinet at this point in time is aimed at eliminating the other.”
“Rotation of power is sound reasoning if it is agreed upon through consultations and consensus,” he remarked.
“We were the first to make such a proposal and it was being implemented for a year-and-a-half,” he continued.
“Rotation of power is fair and should be adopted at ministries and state institutions at the start of a new presidential term,” Bassil said.
“Proposing rotation of power after the formation of a new government and two months before staging the presidential elections will obstruct the role of state institutions, harm the people's interests, and undermine the people's intelligence,” he stressed.
“Everyone knows that the whole point of proposing the rotation of power at this moment is aimed at eliminating the other,” he said.
Not only is a person being eliminated, but an entire movement, sect, and nation, stated the minister.
The achievements made at the oil sector are being targeted, Bassil declared.
“Lebanon's gas and oil wealth has been kept under wraps for years and they soon started clambering to get their hands on the Energy Ministry portfolio after our discovery of this wealth,” he added.
“Oil is Lebanon's guarantee for stability and financial success,” he stressed.
“It is a guarantee for partnership and a sign of our accomplishments over the years,” noted Bassil.
“The oil file is a new guarantee for Christians and it will help achieve balanced development that has been missing for 25 years,” he continued.
“Is it acceptable for a major Christian bloc to be deprived of a sovereign portfolio?” he wondered.
“Should they be deprived of a sovereign portfolio and be left with lesser sovereign ones?” he asked during his press conference.
“Christians cannot be deprived of anything because they are the guarantors of everything in Lebanon,” remarked the minister.
FPM chief MP Michel Aoun has rejected the rotation of portfolios in the new cabinet, delaying the line-up.
He is holding onto the energy and telecommunications ministries that are part of his share in the resigned government of caretaker Premier Najib Miqati.
26 January 2014, 15:06
287
@Jaafar: Didn't your parents teach you not to talk when your mouth is FULL of lies. The telecom ministry was always generating money from the inception of Cellular in Lebanon. EDL and the Energy ministry were and still are money losere. Please, stop spreading propaganda and delusions.
26 January 2014, 15:23
205
FT, let say you are 100% right. Let say also that the other side wants those portfolios for the juicy paybacks and commission. Why should it be the exclusivity of the FPM.
Many agree that Bassil has done a good job (whether he has or not taken large amounts of commission is not the issue). The argument of Aoun and Bassil should not be about the rights of Christians or the FPM (we are not in a kindergarten playground) but rather about competence and continuity of those strategic ministries.
26 January 2014, 16:28
178
go check ALL economic indicators for Lebanon for the last three years, and then come back and tell us the FPM proved "them" wrong!!!!
26 January 2014, 16:29
816
ex fpm. we need movers and shakers to get the oil file out. M14 (who I consider myself part of) did not do much in this file, even though like u said they initiated it. But that is not enough.
Lebanese issues are not a fairy tale with the good guys and the bad guys. There are shades of gray. Learn to to appreciate them before embarassing yourself.
26 January 2014, 16:36
186
@samy: how man down votes you think we will get today. I have 11 so far and there are only 2 of them posting:)?
26 January 2014, 18:41
33
Another Lebanese warlord's child crippled by a Western education.
27 January 2014, 01:25
42
الاصلاح والتغير ؟ الاصلاح عبر البقاء بنفس الوزارة وعقد الصفقات ؟ ماذا عن التغطية على حزبالله بضرب الدولة المستقلة ؟
26 January 2014, 20:00
72
Ice~man, is jaafar from Sindbad or Alladin? I remember it was in Iraq.... And that he's evil Knievel.
26 January 2014, 14:06
2710
Bassil: The Energy Ministry portfolio should not be used as a means to eliminate the other.
Bassil: The Energy Ministry portfolio has great strategic value for Lebanon and Christians in particular.
Bassil: They have sought to achieve personal gains after our discovery of offshore oil.
I started to like this guy:)
26 January 2014, 14:11
00
syria, hezbolah, iran, aoun, march 8 have been in power long enough. their choice to rule by bombs, assassinations, secrecy, intimidation discounts them from the new governement. time for the majority to get their pro western democratic free independent lebanese government.
26 January 2014, 14:17
2710
afraid to lose his job? poor kiddo.... a man working for the interests of syria and iran is not Worth any respects.....
26 January 2014, 14:22
2611
"after our discovery of this wealth,”
waw!!! this wealth poor moron has been discovered in the 60s....
but you realise its potential only when there is a conflict between the interests of syria/iran and GCC countries? LOL
you are not working for Lebanon but for syria and iran... that is why your rush is suspect....
26 January 2014, 15:12
258
shoo iktashif el barood? It was there ya Jaffar, its the property of the Lebanese Republic not his uncle ya kaieh. What the hell
26 January 2014, 15:34
247
Ya southern Ya Zaki, if you inherit some wealth from your father, would you execute the will alone or wait for your brother?
26 January 2014, 16:17
206
the country's interests lie in the withdrawal of your terrorist hizb from Syria, surrender its arms to the state, and for your sect to re-join the rest of us in building a future for this country. You got your priorities mixed up, sorry. No oil or wealth will do us any good if we end up killing each other.
26 January 2014, 16:48
174
@cedars2
"its the property of the Lebanese": you right!, but why M14 put obstacles in order to the project doesn't go ahead!? knowing that the only beneficiary of that delay is Israel.
I have a solution to the Israeli issue, we can go back to the armistic agreement signed in 1948 or ask the UN to come up with a solution to the border issue "ie Shebba farms bedtime story", once we both agree that we will not instigate aggression across the borders the border will be quiet "ie Jordan, Egypt and Golan Heights"
There will be peace and prosperity in the South and disarming of militias especially those that have created a mini Tehran. Shoo rayak?
26 January 2014, 15:43
86
A little observation here on this rotation of portfolios. When you rotate, you eventually return to your starting position when full rotation (360 degrees) is achieved. So basically the Energy portfolio would return to the FPM on a regular basis.
Let's look at it like a time-share scheme. All parties would be given the chance to dip their fingers into the Energy honey pot. It is a win-win. The only losers are us the citizens.
I find it increasingly difficult not to be Lebanese and incredulous at the same time.
26 January 2014, 15:55
921
I'm just being sarcastic brother, that's all. Rotation schemes don't work. How can you have continuity in an organization when you know that the boss will step down on a regular basis, only to be replaced by another with different political priorities and a different management style, let alone a different management team. That's a proven recipe for chaos. Take it from someone who make a living running companies.
26 January 2014, 17:55
311
(1) Roar, Marshal law would get us nowhere. Lebanon is not so homogenous a society to allow for a dictator to run it effectively. You'll have even more unrest than you have today.
The root of our problems is our deeply ingrained sectarian mindset. When push comes to shove, our politicians default to their sectarian affiliations. Bassil's main argument today is that "THE CHRISTIANS" need a key portfolio. In working democracies, and when building a coalition government, the bickering would be about which political parties would get what, not which religious denominations.
I
26 January 2014, 17:57
310
(2) I argued above that the concept of rotation doesn't work, and I gave my reasons. One solution to this impasse is to keep the ministry in the hands of the FPM, but to form a Board of Oversight to monitor the management of this ministry. There is a lot of money involved in Energy, and a level of oversight is needed to appease the concerns of other parties. I'm not aware that such alternative is being considered. Should the FPM oppose such idea, it would mean that they want to run Energy as they see fit, without a mechanism of checks and balances. This would not be acceptable. It is as if a CEO would run his/her company with total disregard to its Board of Directors.
26 January 2014, 18:35
15
Hold on guys. Every democratic country has a new minister or secretary with nearly every elections. Needless to say I agree that this is a waste of time and whomever gets control will not affect us the average joe.
26 January 2014, 15:54
105
Division, distrust and mutual hatred mean that Lebanon has never enjoyed anything called independence, nor a strong state that is enjoying strong constitutional institutions. The decay has reached such scary proportions that the fight now is nothing over but posts that should be freed from the inertia of party, sectarian and individual priorities. There was once upon a time when Lebanon, albeit very briefly enjoyed unity and contiguity all over its territories, then that shrank to self proclaimed sectarian free areas. Today the division affects all the Lebanese to the state where this deep division is not confined to within one building alone but even inside the kitchen. Mr. Bassil's position has simply confirmed what is known to afflict us now for a long time, and sadly it looks set to get worse, a lot worse.
26 January 2014, 16:03
816
everytime a solution appears someone throws the blame and starts being homophobic
26 January 2014, 16:05
225
hello samy! It was so unfair what they did to you. Typical mentality that does not accept the other.
26 January 2014, 16:18
208
FT and The_roar are cheerleading this thief. Please stop all this B.S about cheaper intorrnet and improved electricity thats absolute crap just explain how did this thief get his wealth from and show us proof of your claims proof not B.S statements otherwise shut up.
26 January 2014, 17:12
134
Hopefully none of them will get anything this time around. It seems that the president is about to form an independent technocratic government by Monday or Tuesday I hope.
26 January 2014, 17:45
73
the_roar,
Rotation of posts is good for Lebanon because our politicians are corrupt and can not be trusted to hold the same post for too long. At least by rotating they will be too afraid to steal too much because they will be exposed by the next guy. It is not a good solution but in Lebanon's case it is better than not rotating.
26 January 2014, 19:32
37
Just a question: since 2005 and the liberation can anyone tell us what any of the 14 march ministers did? Any achievement? Any plan that worked?... The only ministers who were really effective were people like ziad baroud, charbel nahass, gibran bassil, nicolas sahnaoui.... So why give our last chance for economical salvation ie: oil and gas to a political group who can only present failures for CV?
26 January 2014, 19:36
30
"The oil file is a new guarantee for Christians..." ????????
Of all the idiotic things the man said here, this one take the cake..And this moron and his party talk about building STATE and NATIONAL institutions???
As to the rest about rotation of power etc,the man is less sophisticated than a three year-old re the constitution and politics...
Poor, poor, poor Lebanon, though you do get what you deserve.
26 January 2014, 20:08
96
Not only is a person being eliminated, but an entire movement, sect, and nation
Gebran 1Bassil not only one man, a person but also a movement, sect, nation, continent, globe, solar system, galaxy.. Very important indeed he is.
26 January 2014, 20:09
00
why rotation was not proposed between 1990-2007?. Rotation is not acceptable now or later! for either camp. People/Parties/Governments should be accountable for their works. Each camp will be embezzling and blaming the others when rotation is the form. I am surprised the phalange and LF are willing to accept anything that will heart the Tayyar, even if it hearts all christians!
26 January 2014, 20:19
95
Stay tuned for a brand new Bande dessinée staring 1Bassil and Jr where 1Bassil tells Jr how he acquired his super powers..
hint they won't be using a Metro as a mode of transport, this time Jr will be riding on the shoulders of 1Bassil now able to leap tall buildings in a single bound, I just hope he's not going to wear in orange tights.
26 January 2014, 21:51
65
“Is it acceptable for a major Christian bloc to be deprived of a sovereign portfolio”… all ways with the christian card, Aoun & Bassil are pathetic. You don't care about any thing ells except lining your pockets. And no one has nominated the two of you as the sole representative of the christians. Your M8 partners are kicking you to the curb, there is not a thing you can do about it so stop your endless whining and live with it.
26 January 2014, 21:55
52
You are talking about arrogance, don't make me laugh ya blowhard... have you slapped any lately?
27 January 2014, 11:07
30
a little dictator from the basil family hahaha makes me laugh... he wants all the acquired charis for life .... tlemiz el assad byet3allamou bi ser3a!
