By Sufyan Maghur.
Tripoli, 8 October 2012:
It was obvious from Thursday 4 October that Mustafa Abushagur had lost his chance to form the . . .[restrict]first democratically elected government in Libya’s modern history. He was given the golden opportunity to serve as Libya’s first elected Prime Minister after the 17 February revolution but unfortunately due to his lack of experience and weak performance did not take advantage of it.
It is obvious to me that the choice of Libyans to high political positions who lived most of their lives outside of Libya and had achieved excellent academic experience but lack the political will and knowhow is not working for the Libyan public. These figures can win the opinions of some people, but after their engagement in their jobs lose all confidence as they show their real motives and lack of leadership.
It is true and obvious that the Libyans who lived away from Libya during the Qaddafi regime are eager to compensate themselves by holding power in Libya and rewarding themselves for shunning Qaddafi and Libya for all those years. But they forgot the main point which is that most Libyans did not have that luxury and lived their lives in Libya under the cruel rule of Qaddafi for more than four decades.
They forgot that those Libyans who lived in Libya deserve the prize of holding high positions and understand each other more than the Libyans who did not taste their suffering from inside the country. This is not to say that the Libyans who were forced to leave Libya did not suffer, but it was a different experience and they lost the understanding of the rest of the nation.
Abushagur was not up to the task from the beginning and his mistakes can be summarised as follows:
- His decision to please his main supporters in the GNC (Muslim Brotherhood) and his own group (National Front of Salvation of Libya – NFSL) which he and National Congress President Mohamed Magarief belonged to.
- The decision to choose more ministers from some main cities such as Benghazi, Misrata and Zintan without consideration to other regions such as Tripoli, Zawia and the Western mountains.
- Not consulting with the independent members of the GNC.
- The shunning of the other groups in the GNC (led by Mahmoud Jibril’s National Forces Alliance).
- The decision to appoint a huge government (25 ministries) which led some to expect a Minister from each city and equal numbers from each region.
- The bad choice of some proposed ministers which indicated to some that he was trying to please or that he was under the influence of the main militias in Libya.
In fact, after the initial refusal of his proposed government without even voting on the list by members of the GNC, the NFSL headed by Magarief and Abushagur made the bigger mistake of withdrawing the list immediately and asking for more time.
This put them in a weaker position and all Libyans were waiting for the unavoidable removal of Abushagur. He tried again on Monday 7 October with a smaller cabinet, which should have been his first submission, and a national speech, but it was too late too little and the result was the dismissal of him and his suggested list. This has actually put pressure on Magarief and might eventually result in the end of his term as president of the GNC.
The GNC is now faced with an unpredictable situation. What to do now that Abushagur is out? Will they choose another prime minister? Will the choice come from the same shortlist that was submitted before? Or should they just keep Al-Kib with an extended mandate? There is another option which is to choose the PM and government from within the GNC members, but this will create a conflict of powers and will eventually lead to chaos in Libya’s already weak political structure.
The GNC must realise that Libya needs a political figure and not an academic. Libya needs a politician who lived in Libya during the last 42 years and who understands Libya and the Libyans. It is not true to brand all Libyans who lived in Libya under Qaddafi as unfit to rule, otherwise Libya will only be served by a small minority which has no relationship to the country and or the population they are governing.
It is a hard road ahead and the GNC has to decide quickly. The question is, will GNC members show their inexperience and start bickering and fighting between themselves without really understanding their mandate and responsibility or will they choose a leader that can form a national unity government and focus on drafting Libya’s constitution?
It is unclear as to where Libya is heading and the next week may show us the way. In my opinion, Libya needs a Libyan from within with a strong, small cabinet, and a clear mandate for the next 18 months. [/restrict]
