Below are a few matters overlooked by the March 8 Forces:

• The majority of the now so-called Mach 8 Forces have given their parliamentary vote of confidence to all those governments they are supposedly slamming.
• None of the successive Parliaments have stripped the governments of that confidence.
• All successive Parliaments have ratified the corresponding budgets and approved of borrowing in Lebanese pounds then transferring debt to foreign currencies.
• March 8 Forces have accepted and taken advantage of the absence of public budgets since 2006.

If we take a sample of the subjects of complaints, we find the following:

• Sukleen: Renewal of the same contract.
• Duty Free area:  Renewal of the same contract.
• Roads: Half of Lebanon’s roads are sub-standard and continue to be unsuitable for driving.
• Coastal and riverside properties: Continuous encroachments.
• Solidere: Nothing has changed except that it has now what it could not obtain in the past.
• Public debt: Public debt increased from USD 2.9 billion in 1993 to USD 58 billion at the end of 2012.
• Mobile phones: Speak unreservedly!
• Public administration: Going downhill.
• Judiciary: Speak unreservedly, except for the action taken recently by the Judicial Disciplinary Committee against two judges.
• Taxation system: At the standstill and worsening.
• Electoral system: Now we mention it? Where were the March 8 Forces four years ago and why not stall a little more until the elections are only a few days away?

If Sukleen squandered public funds without providing adequate environmental or practical solutions to Lebanon’s waste problems, why has it remained in operation?

If the March 8 Forces were genuinely keen on public properties, why have they let sleeping dogs lie and turned a blind eye to encroachments, which some among the party have been part of?

Why has borrowing continued despite the public debt having reached alarming rates?

Why has spending persisted along the same lines of Seniora’s path, although a legal loophole was contrived?  

Have March 8 ministers fared any better in public management?

Away from the rhetoric of March 8 and March 14 Forces and away from the accusations of treason or the acts of reverence, the time has come for each to take their share of the blame and make sure their hands are clean before pointing fingers at others.

In this context, it is useful to recall the words of Imam Al-Hussein:  “Keep away from doing that which you must excuse yourself for, for verily the believer neither commits a wrong nor makes excuses for himself.”

Jawad N. Adra