Suleiman and Mikati discuss elections, amid funding crisis

Lebanon’s teachers urge government to implement approved pay rise A meeting on Sunday between the Lebanese President Michel Sleiman and the country’s Prime Minister Najib Mikati, focused on the upcoming elections, informed sources have reported. Reports also suggest that the Prime Minister is pushing to form a new committee responsible for overseeing the parliamentary elections, due to take place on June 9.
The cabinet is also set to meet before Tuesday to discuss ways to fund a wage scale it approved last year.
Despite Finance Minister Mohammad Safadi completing a draft of the country’s budget for 2013, there is widespread protest over how the nation will fund the approved increase in wages.
The Syndicate Coordination Committee, a coalition of school teachers and public sector across Lebanon, held another protest on Monday as part of a four-week strike to get the government to implement the wage reform.
During the protest, Hanna Gharib , head of the Public Secondary School Education Teachers Association said: “Funding of the new wage scale should come at the expense of the rich and not the poor.”
Gharib also warned the country’s Economic Committee, made up of businessmen and the owners of major firms, not to stand in the way of the government policy.
However, it emerged today that the Economic Committee have warned the cabinet not to approve the funding, advising that such a measure would inflict major losses on public and private sector finances.
The news comes as the Lebanese President is set to begin a nine-day African tour, starting tomorrow. He will start of in Senegal and visit three other nations in the continent including Ivory Coast, Ghana, and Niger. During the tour, he is expected to meet with the heads of state, and sign several agreements relating to trade, tourism and agriculture between the countries.
In addition, he will be accompanied by a large delegation of businessman, bankers and officials.