Syrian Parliamentarians Criticize Damascus in Rare Meeting
ALEPPO, Syria (North Press) – On Sunday, members of the People’s Assembly, Syria’s parliament, criticized the policies and decisions of the government in addition to its mismanagement of the deteriorating crises in the country.
During a session of the assembly, Naser Yousef al-Naser, a representative from Homs, said, “I will not talk about electricity outages, nor high prices of fuel or its unavailability, nor of paying taxes without providing services or an income, nor of the situation of agriculture and animal resources,” listing the crises in the government-held areas.
Al-Naser demanded that a ministry or committee to fight corruption be established, and that it be answerable directly to the presidency, not to the government.
The parliament session was held in Damascus and attended by Hammouda Youssef Sabbagh, Speaker of the People’s Assembly, Hussein Arnous, Prime Minister of Syria, and several ministers.
Amar al-Assad, the representative of Latakia Governorate, said, “Most ministries of the government are issuing untimely provocative decisions.”
“There are deficiencies, negligence, and mismanagement of resources despite their scarcity,” he added.
The Prime Minister, rejecting the criticism, stated that “the government was able to address several issues and accomplish many results last year.”
“The last days of 2022 were the hardest, in regards to the economic and service levels in these past years, due to the overlapping crises of the unavailability of oil and exchange rate instability,” he added.
Amar al-Assad, however, had another opinion, “You must do anything you can and not put all the blame on the crisis.”
Hassan Shahid, the representative from Aleppo, wondered about the intended anti-corruption strategies of the government.
He added, “I focus on anti-corruption, which does not require resources and budgets and is not part of the blockade, the Caesar Act, and the unilateral coercive sanctions imposed on Syria.”
“Since this government has taken office, we hear slogans of fighting corruption and improving the living conditions of the people, however, the situation is deteriorating in all sectors,” he noted.
“During these difficult circumstances that Syria is going through, we need an innovative and creative government, not a routine government,” he concluded.