Prime Minister Aldabaiba urges his Finance Minister to complete and refer the draft 2022 budget to parliament – parliament never approved 2021 budget and wants to remove Aldabaiba

By Sami Zaptia.

Tripoli, 29 January 2022:

Libyan Prime Minister Abd Alhamid Aldabaiba is doing his best to project the image that his position and that of his government are secure and normal – at odds with Libya’s political reality.

During a meeting in Tripoli yesterday with his Finance Minister, Aldabaiba surreally urged his minister, in his capacity as Chairman of the 2022 Budget Preparation Committee, the need to complete the draft budget, refer it to the parliament (the House of Representatives – HoR) to issue the necessary law for it, and the need to address all the observations received from the HoR regarding it.

Earlier, Aldabaiba had instructed his ministers to publish the details of the central and local projects and identify them in each municipality, and the financial amounts allocated to them within the 2021 budget. He ordered that they be publish through social media ‘‘in order to achieve the principle of transparency’’. The move is seen as an attempt to pressure the HoR to keep himself and his government in office and to have the 2022 budget approved.

This is fantasy thinking by Aldabaiba as the HoR had not even approved his 2021 budget.

Aldabaiba government losses confidence vote

It will be recalled that the HoR had withdrawn confidence in the Aldabaiba government back in September 2021 and now considers it a ‘‘caretaker’’ government with even less authority and mandate.

There were many factors for this withdrawal of confidence, but the 2021 budget, its size, details and distribution and alleged corrupt squandering, was a major reason.

Rules for candidates for PM announced

On 25 January, the HoR at its Tobruk session presided over by Speaker Ageela Saleh and reportedly attended by as high as 120 members, announced the 13 conditions for candidacy for the post of the new prime minister.

The end of the Aldabaiba government’s term in office?

The HoR considers Aldabaiba’s term of office to have expired on 24 December 2021 – the planned election date.

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