Editorial

  Issue No 17, Nov 2003

A Word From Us

Lebanon’s black hole

It was Gibran Khalil Gibran who said “do not try to guide the course of love, for if it finds you worthy, it shall guide your course”. This is also the case for ‘knowledge’, but unfortunately in Lebanon, tribalism, confessionalism and individualism are a trinity that prevents both.

Tribalism is a persona for individualism, while confessionalism is a persona for tribalism and nationalism is a persona for confessionalism. This is the Lebanese formula that has resulted in economic waste and moral deterioration.

For the debt service to arrive at a figure of $24 billion or 70% of the public debt; for power plants to be set up without the appropriate energy source and transmission lines; and for the state to establish 1.7 million fixed lines while overall subscribers do not exceed 650,000 (while some villages have an oversupply of lines and others have none at all), the environment must be conducive. These examples are a manifestation of a much deeper problem - we live in a society that has lost the hope and will to acquire, store and use ‘knowledge’, leaving a gaping black hole, like a well that does not hold water and can only host malady.

Major challenges ahead of us in the year 2020 include making provisions for a population of 5.6 million, which includes a student population of over 1.1 million. This will require infrastructure, housing and water, among other resources, at an overall investment estimated to be in the region of $15 billion. Add to this the pressing need to provide employment opportunities, and what have we prepared so far? A black hole!

A society without hope is a society without memory, planning, knowledge or future.


Jawad Adra
Managing Partner

  

  Current Statistics

Central Inspection Board

• 125 employees were sentenced to various punishments by the Central Inspection Committee in 2002. Some of the punishments ranged from reprimands (20 employees), salary demotions (18 employees) and suspensions (7 employees).

Registration fees

• LL 170 million in registration fees for Syrian students at the Lebanese University was paid by the Lebanese government for the years 2001–2003.

Check exchange

• 6,990,000 checks were exchanged in the first eight months of 2003. Their value reached LL 30 billion, with those in foreign currency representing 70%.

Casino du Liban

• LL 30 billion in revenues were transferred to the government from the Casino du Liban in 2003, compared with LL 20 billion the previous year.

T-bills

• LL 3,770 billion was the value of T-bills for the last three months of 2003.

 

 

Company Activities

  

 

Latest publication: Lebanon’s parliamentary history

The latest edition to Information International’s ‘Facts’ series of publications is a review of Lebanon’s parliamentary system dating back to the French mandate and the Administrative Committee of 1920. It is an examination of all parliaments formed since the country’s independence, detailing the participating members, segmentation of districts, number of representatives (by sect), number of eligible voters and actual voter turn-out. Moving up to the present, a critique of the 2000 election, and specifically, of Law No. 171 on which the election was based, is provided. The latest members of parliament and their professions before entering public service have also been included for general interest, as well as a review of salaries and remunerations of MPs.

For a copy of this publication, contact Information International or visit your bookstore.
 

 

 

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