President of the National Dialogue Party, MP Fouad Makhzoumi, visited the Grand Mufti of the Republic, His Eminence Sheikh Abdul Latif Derian, at Dar Al-Fatwa, accompanied by Engineer Ibrahim Zeidan, Executive Deputy Chairman of the Party’s Administrative Board; Mr. Samer Al-Safah, Director General of the Makhzoumi Foundation; and Mr. Marwan Sabban, Director of Social Media. They discussed matters concerning Dar Al-Fatwa and the general situation in the country.

Makhzoumi praised His Eminence’s sound and moderate positions, noting that he had discussed several issues with the Mufti, foremost among them the situation in Beirut and the concerns of its residents. He said that Beirut was now paying the price for political disputes, particularly in the form of continuous power outages and delays in implementing the social safety net, not to mention the state of healthcare amid the COVID-19 pandemic. He called for all these issues to be reconsidered, especially the Civil Defense file. He pointed out that, in addition to refusing to regularize the status of volunteers, the authorities were now preventing 500 employees and their families from obtaining health insurance worth a total of 90 million Lebanese pounds.

The discussions also addressed the coronavirus pandemic. Makhzoumi expressed hope that the situation would improve, particularly since several institutions, including the Makhzoumi Foundation, had requested permission to import COVID-19 vaccines. He noted that the Foundation had obtained prior approval to import approximately 100,000 vaccine doses, but the Ministry of Public Health insisted that all vaccine-related approvals be processed through the Ministry. He revealed that he had met with Dr. Hamad Hassan, Minister of Public Health in the caretaker government, who had given assurances that the matter would be addressed positively. However, no progress had been made to date regarding permission for the Foundation to import the vaccines.

Regarding the government formation process, Makhzoumi said the country was witnessing a dismal government failure, particularly as the caretaker government refused to exercise its powers, despite being a public institution. He questioned how such an institution could remain inactive while ministers continued to receive salaries paid by the Lebanese people.

He renewed his call for the formation of a government composed entirely of independent figures, from the prime minister to the ministers, arguing that such a government was not in the interests of the main parliamentary blocs, which sought to exercise complete control over the government. He stressed that any government resembling its predecessors would fail to secure the desired international support.

Makhzoumi added that the real problem lay in disputes over the apportionment of ministerial portfolios and the scramble to divide up what he described as a “dead body.” He rejected the acceptance of the status quo and pointed to the deteriorating economic situation, with the US dollar approaching 10,000 Lebanese pounds. He described the developments as a major deception, arguing that banks were seeking to acquire dollars from the market through these measures. He questioned where the profits earned by the banks and Banque du Liban in previous years had gone, and what had become of Lebanese depositors’ funds.