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Revisiting priorities

Dec 01,2016 - Last updated at Dec 01,2016

The government of Prime Minister Hani Mulki gained the confidence of the Lower House of Parliament by 84 votes in favour and 40 against, which is a good record, but quite similar to those of other prime ministers and Cabinets.

One rather striking record, however, was of the MPs who brought up, in their speeches, strictly local issues and few or no matters of national concern. Foreign policy got the least attention.

The Civil Coalition for Monitoring Elections and Performances of Elected Councils monitored last week’s Lower House debates on the government’s policy statement and came up with interesting conclusions about what is uppermost on the parliamentarians’ agenda.

The coalition said that 48 per cent of the interventions made by members concerned local services and 46 per cent were dedicated to national policy issues.

The findings of this monitoring body also reveal that first time deputies devoted 54 per cent of their interventions to local issues, compared to 45 per cent to national matters.

On average members of the Lower House gave foreign policy issues barely 1 per cent of their attention.

This points to the pact that the country appears to be turning inwards, as there is really very little, if any, that it can do on foreign policy issues.

Bread and butter issues were uppermost on the minds of the deputies and this tallies with the overall public priority concerns.

With many people struggling to keep pace with inflation and poverty under difficult economic and social conditions, what they want is for their immediate problems to be addressed.

While this is understandable, it is also worrisome.

Voters need to understand that the country as a whole has to be supported, has to undergo progressive development, which eventually reflects on all.

Their sense of belonging should be stronger and the well-being of the entire country should be of paramount importance.

On the other hand, not paying enough attention to regional challenges could be dangerous.

The threats from all around the country are formidable. The influx of more than a million-and-a-half Syrian refugees because of the civil war must be a serious concern for the deputies. So should the raging war in Iraq and the challenges posed by the Palestinian crisis and the continued Israeli occupation of the West Bank.

People’s representatives might wish to review their concerns and develop a balanced perspective on local, national and regional issues.

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