Connect with us

Hi, what are you looking for?

World

Op-Ed: HoR may debate new Libyan GNA on Monday

The original cabinet submitted by the GNA with 32 ministries was rejected by the internationally-recognized House of Representatives (HoR) as being too large. The HoR must give a vote of confidence in the GNA before its term begins, according to the terms of the Libyan Political Agreement (LPA) agreed to by members of the Libya Political Dialogue signed in Skhirat on December 17, 2015. The Dialogue group was set up to reach a political agreement to unite the two rival Libyan governments. One is the HoR and the other is the General National Congress (GNC) based in the west in Tripoli. The HoR is based in the east in Tobruk. Each government has its own armed forces. The HoR has the Libyan National Army led by General Khalifa Haftar. Haftar has carried out Operation Dignity, a military operation against Islamists, since May of 2014. These include not only the Islamic State but groups such as Libya Dawn, the main armed forces of the rival GNC government.

The LPA was signed by some members of each of the rival governments but neither government authorized their members to sign. Neither parliament approved or voted on the LPA until on January 25 or 26 the HoR approved the LPA, but only on condition that Section 8 be deleted. However, no amendments can be made until the HoR approves the LPA with section 8 included. There are two sections 8 actually as I explain in a recent article.

The new members of the cabinet suggested by the GNA Presidency Council divides the ministers among the three historic regions of Libya. Five would come from Tripolitania in the west, four from Cyrenaica in the east, and three from Fezzan in the south. There could be two more ministries added. Civil activist Mohamed Obied claimed: Tripolitania would have the foreign, finance, planning, economy, and transportation ministries. Cyrenaica would get interior, education, justice, and labour and social affairs. Fezzan would have the defence, health and local government. The possible added ministries would be oil, which would go to Cyrenaica, and youth that would go to Tripolitania.

The Presidency Council has been working on the plan since Thursday. The Presidency Council was given a deadline of 10 days to present the HoR with a new cabinet lineup. At the very latest that deadline is today February 6. However, the Council believes that the 10 days began after January 31st when the Council received a letter indicating the former cabinet was rejected by the HoR. This is ludicrous since the actual rejecting was at least five days earlier. However, it makes no difference since the whole process of creating the LPA and its implementation has numerous missed deadlines, changed rules, and other irregularities. The HoR is said to have demanded the list by Sunday at the latest since they intend to debate and vote on the new GNA this Monday.

No mention is made how the issue of deletion of Article 8 is to be solved. The HoR also has to vote on a constitutional amendment. We will know Monday what is to happen, or is not to happen.

Written By

You may also like:

World

Calling for urgent action is the international medical humanitarian organization Doctors Without Borders/Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF)

World

Immigration is a symptom of a much deeper worldwide problem.

Business

Saudi Aramco President & CEO Amin Nasser speaks during the CERAWeek oil summit in Houston, Texas - Copyright AFP Mark FelixPointing to the still...

Business

A recent article in the Wall Street Journal infers that some workers might be falling out of the job market altogether.