“Lebanon Debate”
The conflict between the Chairman of the General Authority of Civil Aviation, Captain Aziz, and the Minister of Public Works and Transport, Mr. Rasamny, has become public in terms of powers, against the backdrop of interventions by the Minister and those affiliated with him, such as Engineer Thebian, a member of the Authority, and the Director of Air Navigation, Nasraldin, who, as is rumored, have suspicions surrounding them that require scrutiny by the competent authorities, knowing that all administrative and technical powers, according to Law 481, fall exclusively under the responsibility of the Chairman of the Authority.
Informed sources also confirmed that the “ICAO” organization had previously assigned Lebanon the “SSC” classification, which means that there are “serious errors” in terms of the severe shortage in the number of air traffic controllers and the method of managing air navigation, the consequences of which are entirely borne by the Director of Air Navigation, Mr. Nasr al-Din, for more than 15 years, without taking the necessary corrective measures.
The same applies to Mr. Zebian, who caused the same thing when he was working as an inspector in the Aircraft Authorization Department of the Aviation Safety Authority, from which he was removed more than 17 years ago due to suspicions and files of corruption, only to return and be parachuted in as a body member out of favoritism and quotas.
These interventions were carried out by Thebian and Nasraldin, as well as the disagreements between the head of the authority and the minister regarding preventing the head of the authority from imposing practices that would harm the reputation of the civil aviation sector, which everyone is keen to keep away from political tensions.
The most important question remains: Will Minister Rasamny stop the hand of Nasraldin and Thebian, give public interest priority over partisan interest, and exclude everyone around whom files of suspicion and corruption revolve from the decision-making position?
Note that Minister Rasamny, as we indicated in previous reports, is facing intense anger on the Sunni street regarding the sharp decline in Sunni positions in the ministry in general, and in the civil aviation sector in particular. On the other hand, there is resentment towards the Shiite authorities, as Al-Akhbar newspaper indicated in its latest report.
This is what the coming days will prove, and will show what is being hatched and what is going on in the corridors of the ministry and the places of real decision-making, that is, the “dark rooms”, in terms of appointments and assignments around which there are suspicions and which smell of partisan quotas par excellence.
