Former Agriculture Minister in Syria Noureddine Mona attacked the new “government” announced by the Syrian regime president Bashar al-Assad in a presidential decree on Tuesday.
“The state has lost its cover, revealing a chronic state of political bankruptcy, as well as the state’s lack of will or capacity to manage the living and economic situation of the Syrian people,” said Mona, who took over Syria’s Ministry of Agriculture from 2001 to 2003.
In a post on his Facebook account, the former Syrian Agriculture Minister described the new cabinet formation as “ministerial patching.”
He added: After previously revealing (the state’s) moral bankruptcy and both its failure and unwillingness to fight corruption — which is rampant in all arms of the state and the government — it has now appointed a “minister of state” for the new government, who ran as a candidate in the last presidential elections.
Mona described this decision as “a thing of the past in the political and electoral history; it is outside both political and diplomatic norms, and it happens only in Syria.”
“A person accepts to put aside his academic higher degree [referring to the new Minister of Internal Trade, Amro Salem] to become a minister in a field far from his own scientific expertise. He does this to take responsibility for the violations related to rugs, Friday markets, cardamom markets, ovens, sweets, gas, and spirits,” he said.
Mona concluded his post by saying: “This an indicator of extinction and the end. It’s a disgrace: the contenders triumphed over influence. We defeated the defeated people.”
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According to another publication (Etihad Press), a joint statement was issued on Tuesday by the licensed parties “Youth for Construction and Change” and “Solidarity,” which rejected the newly formed “government.” The statement said: “For a while now, we have not dared to show new government heads, as if this country were destined to rotate them.”
The parties added through the joint statement that the “government,” being in the same form as before, had completely ended the hopes of most Syrian people for change. The statement pointed out that “these people deserve that we pay attention: they were relying on the final hope of change, capable of realizing the slogan “Hope in Action.”
The statement explained that “government consultations” had occurred, but normal people did not see a single meeting with “licensed national parties” or “qualified university graduates and specialists in dealing with crises.”
“There are only those same faces [i.e. the ministers] in Syria, whom the people are tired of,” the statement said, adding that: “Most of them are the foundations of never-ending crises in Syria.” The statement asserted that the Syrian people were waiting for many “governments” to be held accountable for their actions, instead of repeating them.
This article was translated and edited by The Syrian Observer. The Syrian Observer has not verified the content of this story. Responsibility for the information and views set out in this article lies entirely with the author.
