Prime Minister Diab said today during a meeting with the diplomatic corps that “The State is no longer able to protect the Lebanese” and that “We are facing immense difficulties, and the State’s mechanisms are constrained with sectarianism and the government’s burden is really heavy and complicated”.
This doesn’t come as a surprise as Lebanese have lost trust in this government and all the institutions, and this fear for their present and future is what led them to take the streets and protest. However, when you’re a designated PM in times of crisis, you’re supposed to re-assure people and start offering solutions, not come out and tell us the state can no longer protect its people!
More importantly, Lebanese are also not interested anymore in hearing empty re-assurances and want clear answers regarding the economic crisis we’re going through and the rescue plan this government is expected to deliver.
Why was Diab nominated to lead the new government? On what basis? Where’s the rescue plan? What are the measures that need to be taken to put the country on the right track? Why isn’t BDL providing the authorities with the needed information regarding the dollar reserves? Why are exchange offices still allowed to manipulate the Lebanese currency rate? How are banks transferring billions while people cannot withdraw more than $300 a month? What happened to fighting corruption and opening cases? Where’s the independent judiciary committee?
People want a timeline, they want answers and a clear plan to address this crisis. The PM is not a journalist or an analyst to give out such statements, he’s the head of the executive branch and is supposed to get things done. We’re about to default, the Lira might hit LL3000 soon and the government has no idea what to do still.