Prime Minister Hassan Diab’s government has so far been unable to address the deteriorating financial and economic crisis, more than two months after receiving the parliament’s vote of confidence.
Regardless of the government’s excuses, its only achievement to date is its management of the outbreak of the novel coronavirus.
Both pro-government and opposition political blocs have acknowledged that the cabinet has adopted effective measures to contain the spread of the virus and has successfully organized the repatriation of Lebanese expatriates.
Besides this achievement, Diab’s government continues to run in a vicious circle amid political obstacles hampering its work, according to sources in the opposition.
The sources told Asharq Al-Awsat that the cabinet has been using the country as a “field of experiments”, as confusion prevailed over controversial issues, especially those mentioned in its ministerial policy statement.
The same sources called on Diab to firmly decide on whether to remain a victim of previous policies or to become a “champion" in salvaging Lebanon.
Recent criticism made by Parliament Speaker Nabih Berri is evidence on the lack of minimum consensus among the ministers, they said.
Referring to power shortages, the opposition sources said that the cabinet continued to behave as a “caretaker” government.
“Otherwise, why did it not deal with the electricity crisis by contradicting the approach of the Free Patriotic Movement?” the sources asked.
Lebanon's energy ministry had been led in the past governments by an FPM figure, which has been blamed for mismanaging the sector and causing heavy financial losses in the state treasury.
