Lebanese Speaker Nabih Berri received on Wednesday the final report released by the Central Inspection Authority on random employments made in government agencies and institutions.
During a meeting earlier this week with a delegation from the Press Syndicate, Berri revealed that around 5,000 people were hired in the public sector in 2018 alone, stressing that the number excluded the security forces.
The speaker was quoted by his visitors as saying that this issue would not go unnoticed, expressing his intention to hold parliamentary sessions to question the government on the mass state hiring.
In this regard, the head of the parliamentary finance committee, MP Ibrahim Kenaan, said on Wednesday that he delivered to Berri the final report released by the Central Inspection on the issue of employment.
During the meeting, the two officials also discussed financial issues.
“I carried with me the final report released by the Central Inspection on the issue of employment. It is now in the hands of Speaker Berri,” Kenaan said.
“We are fully concerned with accountability, and we have no ceiling but that of the law,” he added.
A member of the finance and budget committee, Free Patriotic Movement MP Salim Aoun, said that according to the available data, “5,000 people were hired in 2018, a thousand of them by a cabinet decision, while contracts were signed with 4,000 others in secret in several ministries.”
He added that the committee would study the report in detail next week and submit its recommendations to the government.
Kenaan emphasized that the workers were hired on a contractual basis, not as permanent employees, but said they would be treated fairly taking into account the laws in force on one hand, and the situation of the workers on the other.
