By Hadi Fornaji
Tripoli, 19 March 2013:
An open letter to the government and Congress written by a social networker has snowballed into . . .[restrict]an online petition that appears to be garnering widespread support.
On 1 February Dr Mohamed Mabrouk Bugaighis, a retired statistics professor, wrote on his Facebook page, of his concerns that the post-revolutionary Libya was in trouble. Addressing himself to GNC president Mohammed Magarief and the Prime Minister Ali Zeidan, Bugaighis said: “As you are fully aware, the Libyan people feel betrayed and their concerns ignored, and therefore believe that their revolution might have been diverted from the right course, and the blood of their martyrs may have been shed in vain.”
Since that posting, said the professor, he had been urged to turn his letter into a petition. Thus Al-Mubadarah or The Initiative came into being, an online petition, which Bugaighis reported has already received 1,000 signatures.
The document makes a dozen demands, among which is the dismantling of central government in favour of a provincial system, the dissolution of all militias and their absorption into the security forces, an entire revision of the constitutional declaration, to ensure the complete separation of powers between congress and government and the immediate election of the constitution drafting committee.
The Initiate also demands that “All government transactions must adhere to principles of transparency, and must be open to public scrutiny, and consistent with the declared annual budget.”
It also calls for a transparent inventory of all foreign investments and a clear statement of abuses that have occurred, and the prosecution of those responsible.
The Al-Mubadarah petition can be found at https://www.facebook.com/groups/303824716387247/
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