We’ve been hearing for quite some time now about this “MPs should not be named ministers” rule and the latest one to support it was President Aoun who called for separation of Cabinet and Parliament posts.
The rule has never been enforced before but I think it’s high time we put it in place once and for all. Even more, I believe our government should be formed of technocrats capable of handling the needed reforms and putting Lebanon back on the right track. Legally speaking, there are no regulations preventing MPs from also serving as ministers but I believe there should be a rule as our current and previous MPs (not much has changed) have been swapping ministers for God knows how long now. In fact, I think they should also prevent a minister from handling more than two different types of ministries as it doesn’t make sense. How can a Telecom Minister become a Defense Minister all of a sudden? or a Foreign Affairs Minister taking over the Finance Ministry or Power Ministry for example?
Take for example Marwan Hamadeh who has been an MP for as long as I remember and a member of cabinet as well. He served as Minister of Education, Minister of Telecommunications, Minister of Economy & Trade, Minister of Tourism, Minister of Health and Minister for Displaced! Now I have nothing against him and I think he’s one of the very few decent MPs we’ve had, but he can’t possibly be qualified to run all these ministries.
In all cases, let’s wait and see if this government will ever be formed in time, and if they’re serious about implementing the reforms or not.