The Lebanese Abroad Are Ignored Because They Are Disenfranchised

The Daily Star reminds us today of the many incidences last week where Lebanese abroad got into trouble and our government stood paralyzed ( Bahrain, Cote D’ivoire and the journalists in Syria).

First a quick note to the Daily Star: The Lebanese in Cote D’ivoire are not targeted because of a “rumor” that they supported the outgoing president. They are targeted because Lebanon “officially” endorsed him by sending our ambassador to attend his faux-inauguration.

In reality, much of the Lebanese problems abroad can be fixed using simple policy changes and better accountability. That will only happen when the diaspora begins to vote in Lebanese elections, and it will start costing politicians dearly to ignore 100,000 odd Lebanese in Cote D’ivoire.

The other problem is the silly abomination in Lebanese politics where a particular ministry is exclusive to one political party. When was the last time the ministry of diaspora and exterior was with someone who’s not from Berri’s AMAL movement? This distortion has undermined all the benefits of power exchange and effectively made people like Mr. Berri leaders for life in the eyes of foreign dictators like Mr. Gbagbo, with all the corruption and clandestine networks this entails.