Cabinet met Tuesday morning. (Credit: NNA)
BEIRUT — At a session Tuesday, the cabinet agreed to hold a session dedicated to the electricity file and rejected a bill that would curtail the public prosecutor’s powers, acting Information Minister Abbas Halabi and at a press conference following the meeting. He also confirmed that the cabinet will meet on Thursday at 2 p.m. in Baabda to finalize the draft 2022 budget.
Here’s what we know:
• The government did not approve a bill dating from 2018 to curtail the mandate of the public prosecutor at the Court of Cassation, a role currently held by Judge Ghassan Oueidat. According to several local media outlets, this proposal has been referred to Parliament. The bill in question was presented four years ago by Free Patriotic Movement MP Ziad Aswad, and if passed would remove the public prosecutor’s power to make the final call in cases in which a higher authority in the Lebanese administration rejects the prosecution of one of its employees.
• The cabinet also decided to form a committee made up of the ministers of justice, industry, economy and public works to determine who is authorized to demolish wheat silos in the port of Beirut after the completion of the cleaning phase. The silos were badly damaged in the Beirut port blast in 2020.
• The acting information minister said following the cabinet meeting that “the cabinet decided to authorize the telecommunications minister to negotiate with LibanPost [the company that facilitates postal services in Lebanon] and renew its contract [which expired in 2019 and has been renewed several times since then] until April 30, before launching a new tender.”
• Prime Minister Najib Mikati on Monday promised to give contract teachers in public institutions “a transport allowance but according to standards,” said Halabi, noting that “the cabinet [on Tuesday] tasked the education minister to set these standards.”
• It was decided that discussion on the electricity file will be carried on after the approval of the draft budget. An article in the original 2022 budget draft noted that Electricité du Liban would get an advance payment of LL5.25 trillion to buy fuel. Energy Minister Walid Fayad was asked to justify the advance payment, before it was decided to separate the electricity and budget plans last week.