Corruption has reached the livelihood
In a press conference, Lebanese Health Minister Wael Abu Faour announced the names of shops, supermarkets and restaurants in whose kitchens food was found to be substandard, some of which was spoiled, some of which was contaminated with sewage water, and some of which were considered colonies for bacteria and microbes. What was shocking about the list announced by the minister was that some of the names were trusted by the Lebanese citizen and some of them were considered luxury food places. The list was shocking. Corruption has spread like a malignant disease in most parts of Lebanon and has spread to various sectors, and now it has reached the livelihood, the food of the citizen.
The Lebanese citizen, if he is not defeated by wars and his daily suffering from the complications of water and electricity cuts, hospitalization and medicine, and his daily stress due to the problems of his daily life, his livelihood is enough to poison him and perhaps kill him... The Lebanese citizen is exposed to various types of wars: guerrilla warfare, military warfare, psychological warfare, war under the banner of religion and sect.
Our wars have extended and diversified until they reached the food war... Some may be surprised by the amount of fraud that has reached the food plate, but with the spread of corruption, will food be safe from all corruption, since food will not be an island far from what is going on around it in our homeland.
But it is natural, given the state’s inability and the division of the people, that corruption would reach any sector. The Lebanese media was the first to shed light on corruption in the food sector, to the point that the media figure “Rima Karaki” would show in every episode of her program “For Publication” a surprise visit by the program’s camera to five restaurants and present them, with their ups and downs, to the viewers… When the Minister of Health announced the names of the violating establishments, he was showered with words of support, but also words of criticism and sometimes attacks. His response to them was “There would be no tourism if it was tourism of spoiled food, and what is required of me to consider sewage water as perfumes?”
This is some of the black comedy in Lebanese political life, and despite everything that has happened, we hope that the state, the media, and the Ministry of Economy will join forces on this file to reach food safety. Is our hope for clean food suitable for human consumption a big dream that we should not dream of because it is higher than our ambitions?
The Lebanese citizen, if he is not defeated by wars and his daily suffering from the complications of water and electricity cuts, hospitalization and medicine, and his daily stress due to the problems of his daily life, his livelihood is enough to poison him and perhaps kill him... The Lebanese citizen is exposed to various types of wars: guerrilla warfare, military warfare, psychological warfare, war under the banner of religion and sect.
Our wars have extended and diversified until they reached the food war... Some may be surprised by the amount of fraud that has reached the food plate, but with the spread of corruption, will food be safe from all corruption, since food will not be an island far from what is going on around it in our homeland.
But it is natural, given the state’s inability and the division of the people, that corruption would reach any sector. The Lebanese media was the first to shed light on corruption in the food sector, to the point that the media figure “Rima Karaki” would show in every episode of her program “For Publication” a surprise visit by the program’s camera to five restaurants and present them, with their ups and downs, to the viewers… When the Minister of Health announced the names of the violating establishments, he was showered with words of support, but also words of criticism and sometimes attacks. His response to them was “There would be no tourism if it was tourism of spoiled food, and what is required of me to consider sewage water as perfumes?”
This is some of the black comedy in Lebanese political life, and despite everything that has happened, we hope that the state, the media, and the Ministry of Economy will join forces on this file to reach food safety. Is our hope for clean food suitable for human consumption a big dream that we should not dream of because it is higher than our ambitions?