Growing Frustration over Delay in Appointments to Vacant Posts
Speaker Nabih Berri slammed the government on Friday for failing to appoint civil servants to posts in state institutions and mainly employees linked to the premier’s office.
“Why haven’t the vacant seats been filled ten months after the formation of the cabinet?” Berri wondered in remarks to As Safir daily.
“It seems that those who can’t make an appointment in 10 days, won’t be able to do so in ten months although there is a mechanism in place allowing the most competent (person) in each sect to reach the post that he deserves,” the speaker said.
“What are they waiting for?,” Berri asked.
The speaker also criticized the failure to appoint the head of the Higher Judicial Council and announced his support for a planned strike by lawyers next week.
“Had I been justice minister, I would have quit,” he said, adding “had I been a lawyer in practice, I would have called for an open-ended strike because the situation is no longer acceptable.”
The heads of the Beirut and Tripoli Bar Associations respectively Nuhad Jabr and Bassam al-Dayeh have announced that lawyers would hold a one-day strike on Monday to protest the failure to appoint a new head for the HJC.
According to al-Liwaa daily, Judges Jean Fahed, Antoine Daher and Tanios Issa al-Khoury are the candidates for the post.
The appointment’s delay was caused by differences between President Michel Suleiman and Free Patriotic Movement leader Michel Aoun on the name of the candidate.
Despite the standstill, An Nahar newspaper said the cabinet could make a series of appointments to vacant seats in regulatory bodies during its next session at Baabda Palace on Wednesday.
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