National Bloc: Reduction of salaries is the result of the inability to fight waste and corruption
The Lebanese National Bloc Party pointed out that Foreign Minister Gebran Bassil's bold announcement about public sector salary reductions is conclusive evidence of his (and that of the ruling political class) to combat corruption, waste, and political favoritism. The Bloc found it necessary to rehash the innumerable venues of government waste, many of which were mentioned in previous statements, along with warnings of how this waste and mismanagement is detrimental to the lives of citizens.
The National Bloc Party asserted that this latest measure of lowering public sector wages will not be useful as it will not have an impact on the productivity of the government. Additionally, it will impact the income of a majority of Lebanese citizens, leading to financial troubles, and making those citizens vulnerable to the political favoritism structure of the parties/sects.
The Bloc stressed the importance of the government investing in its employees, explaining one basic solution to the dire economic situation, namely the restructuring of public administration as follows:
- An administrative purge of the non-productive elements that have been employed due to political favoritism and party/sect alignments. In Lebanon, the proportion of government employees in administrative posts is 20% of total public employees in comparison to about 15.5% in developed countries.
- Invest in the savings resulting from the purge by employing highly qualified Lebanese citizens with suitable salaries; thus increasing productivity and reducing migration.
- Modern technology training for public sector employees in preparation for the establishment of e-government, a project that has been left dormant, and that if implemented would contribute to the following:
- Closing the doors to corruption
- Increasing productivity by at least 30%
- Reducing the fees of governmental transactions by 80%
- Restoring confidence in the economy, encouraging investments, and reducing unemployment