Call to link pay demands to elections and the constitution
LIBYA – Sadiq Al-Gharyani, the General National Congress mufti dismissed by the House of Representatives, called on teachers, medical staff and other sit-in protesters demanding better wages and a unified pay scale to add political demands for holding fair elections and adopting a constitution.
Al-Gharyani: Pay problems are tied to the country’s fate
Speaking on the programme Islam and Life, broadcast on his Al-Tanasuh channel and monitored by Al-Marsad, Al-Gharyani said protesters unite, gather and strike for better salaries amid high prices, but argued that what matters more is what he described as Libya’s fate and the future of its children.
He added that holding fair elections and adopting a constitution would, in his view, enable the people to manage their own destiny, and that this would automatically address the crises facing teachers, doctors and others.
Criticism of the UN mission and parallel spending
Al-Gharyani criticised what he described as interference by the “Zionist project”, the UN mission and blackmail in Libyan affairs. He also spoke of parallel spending he estimated at between 70 and 80 billion, as well as what he described as thefts linked to Arkenu and the National Oil Corporation, and funds he said were being smuggled to Abu Dhabi.
Why unite over salaries but not the country’s future?
He questioned Libyans’ ability to agree and hold sit-ins over salaries, while failing, he said, to rally around what he considers more important issues concerning their fate and the future of their children and country.
Criticism of those he called “February men”
Al-Gharyani criticised those he called “February men” and the battalions that took part in the 2011 events, arguing that some had reached positions of power, made financial gains, then stepped back from demanding what he called the principles of the “revolution”.
He said that of those who remained, some had, in his description, become millionaires and were received in government institutions and palaces — what he called “the making of tyrants”.
