If British business owners had waited eagerly to discover just how the UK chancellor of the exchequer George Osborne’s budget would affect them in the coming year, their Lebanese counterparts could not summon up the same sense of anticipation on the eve of the new Lebanese government’s ministerial statement. It’s a document that, in theory at least, outlines a vision for what it hopes to achieve in office, but which in practice is nothing more than an exercise in political compromise.
I may be comparing proverbial apples and oranges, but the coincidence of the two events reminded me once again that we Lebanese have either forgotten, or even worse, never actually knew, that we can and should hold our leaders accountable, that they are essentially our servants.
A few years ago the British press was all over the hapless Mr Osborne when he, at the urging of his staff it must be said, installed himself in a first-class train carriage … wait for it … before buying a ticket. His aides justified his actions because he had work to do – he does after all manage the UK's finances – and needed some peace and quiet. And for this he was publicly vilified.
Whenever I tell this story to a Lebanese, they fall about laughing. We live in a country where a minister’s convoy will force you off the road simply because it needs to whisk its charge to lunch. The idea of him – rarely a “her” – taking public transport, would be laughable.
But back to their budget and our ministerial statement: Mr Osborne, mindful that his party faces a general election in a year, addressed the needs of couples, working parents, savers, the elderly, business owners, exporters and even what the British press has dubbed “socially-aware investors”, on everything from pensions, tax breaks, the cost of long-haul travel to bingo and the price of a pint of beer.
Meanwhile, Lebanon’s finance minister, Ali Hassan Khalil, has decided that his priority is to find ways to pay public sector workers, thousands of whom quite literally do nothing – teachers with no students; railway workers with no train system and oil refinery workers with nothing to refine. He will probably do this by raising taxes on interest on customer deposits at Lebanese banks from the current 5 per cent to 15 per cent, and hiking taxes on profits from real estate transactions to 15 per cent. All very crude and in no way designed to kick-start the economy or win over the public.
We waited a year for this. It got worse. Despite a surplus, the state still feels the need to hire more civil servants (who will no doubt be recruited by sectarian quota and ensure the continuity of a proud tradition of political patronage) and will no doubt need to find ways to raise money needed to pay their salaries. The only sop to the private sector was a promise to boost tourism, which according to the new tourism minister Michel Pharaon, means luring more sick Arabs to Lebanese hospitals. I’m not joking.
Mr Pharaon has, as far as I can tell, made his name by being born into a rich Greek Catholic family. The Greek Catholic bit is important because it is one of Lebanon’s minority sects and so whenever someone needs a Greek Catholic to make up the numbers in any cabinet, the likes of Mr Pharaon, an all-round solid chap, are a shoo-in.
Tourism generates 20 per cent of GDP and could do more with the right guidance. Mr Pharaon’s idea to focus on medical tourism indicates that he hasn’t much of a clue about what really makes the sector tick and that once again this vital portfolio has been given to the wrong person. Then again, Mr Khalil, our George Osborne if you like, belongs to Amal, a party that has become a byword for corruption in a country that has become a byword for corruption.
Plus ca change, I guess.
Michael Karam is a freelance writer based in Beirut
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