On Monday, “218News” hosted “Al-Bilad” program, former member of the Presidential Council, Ahmed Maiteeq, to discuss the most prominent political and economic files in Libya, and transitional, general budgets.
The search for administrative dictatorship
Maiteeq believes that the institutional division in Libya is a dangerous and it leads every day to poor living conditions for the citizen. A legislative body consisting of one or two chambers cannot take them, and there are other “sovereign” decisions. A president must be respected and appreciated by all Libyans, in order to take those decisions, pointing out that Libya will not be ruled by one person, but will be ruled by a group of believers. With ideas to bring the homeland to safety, what we are looking for for the next stage is administrative dictatorship, and we cannot live on institutional division at home and abroad.
What is your comment on the State Council and its political behavior?
The High Council of State is different from the former General National Congress, and I see that it has become “Khaled Al-Mashri” and the State Council does not exist. Al-Mashri is the decision-maker in the Council, and whoever is also expressed is Khaled Al-Mashri. As for the Council and its other members, frankly, I do not see their presence.
The State Council has expired once the sovereign positions are agreed upon
Al-Mashri has now become the speaker, and the “speaker” who went to Morocco repeatedly, and what Khaled Al-Mashri owns are sovereign positions only, so there will be no development in the dialogue between him and the Parliament about sovereign positions due to the end of the role of the High Council of State; the case of understanding on the sovereign positions.
If we talk about the political and security scene, how do you comment on the personality of Khalifa Haftar?
If we are going to talk about a military institution, in fact there is a military institution in the eastern region, and the credit for that is due to Khalifa Haftar. As for “the attack on Tripoli, the event was bad, and it constituted a disaster for Tripoli, the price of which was paid by many of those affected by that attack, and therefore we conclude Khalifa Haftar has pros and cons.
“Khalifa Haftar has fulfilled his pledges with us and is part of the solution to the crisis.”
“When we agreed with Khalifa Haftar about resuming oil exports, he was committed to his agreement with us, in addition to the presence of a confidence-building factor and we achieved what we agreed upon.
With regard to the search for solutions to many Libyan regions, we must have a partner in many of these files, and the stability of the country requires the search for all available solutions, and if the leading person is not looking for the stability of Libya, and asking about the personalities, and tracking their activities, it is one of the causes of confusing the scene.
Clearly, we are now in dire need to deliver a message to all Libyans, that we welcome everyone in the elections, in order to ensure that all the characters are not excluded, and we get out of the “winner and loser” scene to be all winners.
How do you evaluate the performance of Aqila Saleh, his work and his issuance of laws?
We have a lot of divisions, and asking about specific personalities will lead to more divisions, and I actually see that Aguila Saleh was able to pass the law on the election of the president, and what the House of Representatives issued is considered the best of all, and there is no doubt that the electoral law made progress in this regard. Aqila Saleh made a lot of mistakes, but at the same time he was diligent and worked, and he often made mistakes. Overall, I stand against many things issued by the Speaker of Parliament, except for the Presidential Election Law, which I support 100%.
What do you think of the government’s financial management?
The government has been trying in the last three months of its term; to complete many files, which are difficult because they face criticism about their actual term of office compared to long-term projects, in addition to resentment if they do not work on those files, and by the way; Prime Minister Abdul Hamid al-Dabaiba was lucky, for all the economic reforms undertaken by the Government of National Accord, and I personally worked on them, in monitoring and collection; they are now present in the Central Bank of Libya.
Dabaiba can use it in many solutions, and the presence of a strong legislative body that controls government spending is the demand of all Libyans, and I think that government spending needs control and vision, and it is not possible to continue spending the government without these conditions, even for a temporary period.
The amount of spending is very large and adversely affects the Libyan people
The volume of spending in Libyan dinars, today, is unreal spending, and the exchange rate is a criterion for that spending. We are now talking about spending that exceeded 50 billion dinars (approximately 11 billion dollars). If Dabaiba wants real spending, he must work on adjusting the exchange rate because it really affects the purchasing power of the Libyan dinar, and the strength of the income of the Libyans, the increase in the salaries of Libyans by 1000 and 2000 dinars is equal to less than half the value.
Therefore, it is necessary to continue to work in the oil fields, raise production, and end the state of political crisis between the east and west of the country, all of which will lead to inflation of the Libyan dinar, which is not already in the market.
Former member of the Presidential Council, Ahmed Maiteeq, continued, in his statements to “Al-Bilad”: “Holding the presidential and legislative elections on their scheduled date on December 24 is necessary, as Libyans are tired of successive governments, in fact we have a road map agreed upon by the Libyan Political Dialogue Forum “The Committee of 75” and the House of Representatives. This was a clear and explicit claim that December 24 is the day of presidential and parliamentary elections.
The former member of the Presidential Council warned that with the holding of these elections, we must risk getting the country out of the dark tunnel, explaining that postponing the elections means electing an interim government, and that many Libyan parties are looking for consensual political solutions for the fifth time, so this will not produce a government and a stable state.
He added: “Libya needs a single administration that leads the country, and ends the division of institutions and legislative authorities. Today, we see the House of Representatives enacting many laws that are not implemented, and the government takes decisions that cannot be implemented, while other parties are looking for a role with the continued division of the political scene. These parties see it against their interest to reach December 24.”
Maiteeq added: “Libya has gone through very difficult stages during the past ten years, and the next president must take many urgent decisions. Maiteeq stressed that the institutional division in Libya is very dangerous, and worsens the living conditions of citizens.
