Taken from Najib Mikati’s Twitter Account
I have no clue what’s wrong with Tripoli officials these days. First they ban breakfasts in the city, then they declare that convoys and fireworks are not allowed as well during Ramadan and now this. What about other Muslims fasting around Lebanon? What about those who are not fasting and can’t afford to pay for a generator? What sort of logic is that?
I see your general point but I don’t think this particular tweet represents it. One can get confused because Mr. Miqati used to be a national politician (PM) and this tweet implies he’s being preferential. But now Mr. Miqati is speaking in his capacity as a local politician with a local constituency. He’s asking on the behalf of Tripoli to get more electricity for his city, a common practice for local politicians, which does not necessarily imply that he’s asking for Tripoli only…
Understood but the problem is all of Lebanon has an electricity issue and by asking for more coverage hours in Tripoli, you will be depriving cities and regions around it and even far away from it. He was a Prime Minister for years and an MP before that and had the chance to get more electricity without having to ask for it. He has no right whatsoever to make this request neither for Tripoli nor for any other city. He can donate free generators and light up the city if he’s that thoughtful.
Their politician is a billionaire, you would think if he really cared he would pay a million dollars for electricity. Oh wait, he isn’t Bill Gates or Warren Buffet. He’s taking his money to the grave 😉
seriously !!
Elections
According to Najib (Mikati):
1st class citizen: Muslim living in Tripoli
2nd class citizen: The people who live in Tripoli and are not Muslim but who benefit from the fact that they are living with or close to the 1st class citizens
3rd class citizen: Everyone else…
Guys,
The tweet is simple Mikat is asking for the minimum rights of his fellow tripolians taking into consideration the electricity hours in Tripoli during the Muslim fasting month ! I am a Greek Orthodox and feel with my Muslim friends who are fasting for 17 hours a day with no water and food…so the least an MP for Tripoli can do is to call for better electricity coverage for his town!!!!!
I do not agree with you guys.
Though I do not live in Tripoli (I live in Beirut) but keep in mind that the North (mostly Tripoli & worse Akkar*) as well as the South are the most deprived parts of Lebanon in terms of electricity.
I can see a point in his request.
P.S.: I do agree with Kareem about “Elections”. clearly no Lebanese politician is interested in the Lebanese citizen’s benefit and I also believe that this is to be blamed on the Lebanese citizen.
Nice blog btw 🙂
* I know that years ago Akkar had a 6 hour electricity outage. Not sure how it is now though.
Although I’m not one of the people who like and adhere to what Mikati has to say and do, I would like to note that today Najib is not in his past seat, he is just a representative of this city. In my view he is just asking for the rather usual stuff every Lebanese Citizen deserves and it’s his job to give (or at least request) his town or city what it deserves.