12/8/2014
Days are passing, months go by, years end up and NOTHING, literally nothing, concrete gets done in our public Administration. In fact, in many areas, we are moving backward, rather than forward. Let us examine one specific case, if you wish.
In April 2005, the then Minister of Agriculture, HE Aly Hassan El Khalil, developed and drew up, with the assistance of the FAO, an admirable Agriculture Plan, well studied and fully detailed that was supposed to be put immediately into execution during the period 2005 to 2010.
In the section three of that Plan entitled: “Developing volume and quality of agricultural output” the following three chapters dealt with the animal output: Chapter 3.1 Assess & control animal diseases in Lebanon, Chapter 3.2 Organize, improve & regulate meat, milk industries in Lebanon, Chapter 3.3 Study the status of the meat slaughterhouses and their residues.
In the middle of 2009, some four years later, I met with a high level director at the ministry of Agriculture and asked him specifically about that Plan in order to find out which part of it had been executed. His answer was short and concise: Sorry, I cannot answer your question, you should ask the Minister. In short, that official later admitted that nothing had been done about any of the suggestions that were listed up in the 49 chapters of that fantastic Plan. Worse still, the Plan was relegated to the archives, never to be heard from subsequently.
At this stage of my narrative, someone is bound to enquire: but how come that you were asking all these questions? In fact, I was, at the time, experimenting with a project to train university undergraduates, form a team to study some public administration issues and identify the available workable relevant solutions. I had selected for that purpose the Agriculture Plan and I succeeded in convincing the Dean of a Lebanese University, to set up a four months study course of that Plan. The object was to find out what parts of that Plan had been implemented and what benefits had resulted from it. The project proved greatly successful. The six team members loved it, and were able to prove, without the shadow of a doubt, that young and enthusiastic university undergrads can make some tremendous change in our sclerosed public Administration. However, as expected, the concept was subsequently fought at different levels of the University’s management and was not allowed to be repeated. I shall say no more, but I am sure that I have been understood. But, let me pursue my narrative.
On the 26.11.2011, over two years later, the then Minister of Agriculture, HE Hussein Hajj Hassan signed a decision No. 1/949 dated 26.10.2011describing in full details the operating condition that must be adhered to in all the slaughterhouses in Lebanon. As the reader may now suspect it, this four pages official “decision” remained totally ignored by all the slaughter houses in Lebanon. The proof is provided in the next paragraph.
In November 2014, three more years later, minister of Health Wael Abou Faour has just exploded his media bomb by revealing, on television and in the press, the catastrophic conditions prevailing in all Lebanese slaughterhouses, and most particularly the Quarantaine slaughterhouse in Beirut. Worse still, he informed us that some 17 employees of this slaughterhouse have been diagnosed with cancer.
What conclusions would you draw from this narrative and how would you explain a ten years ‘neglect?
In my considered opinion, the question must be put to all the Agriculture Ministers who followed Minister Ali Hassan El Khalil, as well as the members of the Agriculture Parliamentary Commission, not omitting the different Prime Ministers who served during the past ten years.
Let me conclude by lamenting the fact that no one in our government cares whether we die of cancer or not. Do we accept this situation, or do we try to do something about it? Let me know your verdict, please.
Lebanon, a country with an Administration where nothing really useful is ever undertaken
Days are passing, months go by, years end up and NOTHING, literally nothing, concrete gets done in our public Administration. In fact, in many areas, we are moving backward, rather than forward. Let us examine one specific case, if you wish.
In April 2005, the then Minister of Agriculture, HE Aly Hassan El Khalil, developed and drew up, with the assistance of the FAO, an admirable Agriculture Plan, well studied and fully detailed that was supposed to be put immediately into execution during the period 2005 to 2010.
In the section three of that Plan entitled: “Developing volume and quality of agricultural output” the following three chapters dealt with the animal output: Chapter 3.1 Assess & control animal diseases in Lebanon, Chapter 3.2 Organize, improve & regulate meat, milk industries in Lebanon, Chapter 3.3 Study the status of the meat slaughterhouses and their residues.
In the middle of 2009, some four years later, I met with a high level director at the ministry of Agriculture and asked him specifically about that Plan in order to find out which part of it had been executed. His answer was short and concise: Sorry, I cannot answer your question, you should ask the Minister. In short, that official later admitted that nothing had been done about any of the suggestions that were listed up in the 49 chapters of that fantastic Plan. Worse still, the Plan was relegated to the archives, never to be heard from subsequently.
At this stage of my narrative, someone is bound to enquire: but how come that you were asking all these questions? In fact, I was, at the time, experimenting with a project to train university undergraduates, form a team to study some public administration issues and identify the available workable relevant solutions. I had selected for that purpose the Agriculture Plan and I succeeded in convincing the Dean of a Lebanese University, to set up a four months study course of that Plan. The object was to find out what parts of that Plan had been implemented and what benefits had resulted from it. The project proved greatly successful. The six team members loved it, and were able to prove, without the shadow of a doubt, that young and enthusiastic university undergrads can make some tremendous change in our sclerosed public Administration. However, as expected, the concept was subsequently fought at different levels of the University’s management and was not allowed to be repeated. I shall say no more, but I am sure that I have been understood. But, let me pursue my narrative.
On the 26.11.2011, over two years later, the then Minister of Agriculture, HE Hussein Hajj Hassan signed a decision No. 1/949 dated 26.10.2011describing in full details the operating condition that must be adhered to in all the slaughterhouses in Lebanon. As the reader may now suspect it, this four pages official “decision” remained totally ignored by all the slaughter houses in Lebanon. The proof is provided in the next paragraph.
In November 2014, three more years later, minister of Health Wael Abou Faour has just exploded his media bomb by revealing, on television and in the press, the catastrophic conditions prevailing in all Lebanese slaughterhouses, and most particularly the Quarantaine slaughterhouse in Beirut. Worse still, he informed us that some 17 employees of this slaughterhouse have been diagnosed with cancer.
What conclusions would you draw from this narrative and how would you explain a ten years ‘neglect?
In my considered opinion, the question must be put to all the Agriculture Ministers who followed Minister Ali Hassan El Khalil, as well as the members of the Agriculture Parliamentary Commission, not omitting the different Prime Ministers who served during the past ten years.
Let me conclude by lamenting the fact that no one in our government cares whether we die of cancer or not. Do we accept this situation, or do we try to do something about it? Let me know your verdict, please.
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