Elie Hourani
Daily Star staff

Baabda-Aley MP Fouad Saad said Thursday he opposed any “made-to-measure constitutional amendment “ that would pave the way for renewing or extending President Emile Lahoud’s mandate.
In a gathering held in the Aley town of Bhamdoun al-Mahatta, Saad, who was formerly a minister of administrative development, added there were 13 months remaining before the presidential election was due and he could not speak on behalf of Druze leader Walid Jumblatt on the matter.
But Saad, who is a member of Jumblatt’s parliamentary bloc, said he personally opposed a constitutional amendment regarding Lahoud’s re-election or the extension of his mandate.
“We in the bloc do not force each other to adopt any attitude. Even Walid Bey … has never compelled any of the 16 MPs in his bloc to adopt an attitude,” he said, adding political reforms should precede administrative ones.
He said, however, that he was personally opposed to any constitutional amendment regarding administrative reform, arguing that administrative reform is possible without the need for political reform.
He said the administration can be reformed within 24 hours if a political decision is seriously taken to that end and a tough system of reward and punishment was enforced. Saad said if civil servants felt that they were being held accountable then that alone would bring about reform.
Saad said after the civil war corruption had been increasing in the civil service sector “year-after-year.”
He said the warlords, who could not divide the country during the war, were in its aftermath “dividing the country’s spoils among themselves,”and were against an efficient and fair central authority capable of holding everything together.