Deputy Strida Geagea held a meeting in Maarab, attended by former Deputy Joseph Issa, President of the Municipal Union of Bsharri Eli Makhlouf, contractor Mark Ghawi accompanied by company director Serge Bou Haidar, Deputy President of the "Cedar Mountain Foundation" Leila Geagea, Treasurer Fadi Chidiac, Secretary Attorney Mario Saab, and participating public member engineer Nadim Salameh, financial expert Fadi Eid, and Geagea's aide Romanous al-Shahr.
The meeting discussed signing the contract for the project to build a rock wall to protect the Baq'aikafra lake from potential future soil erosion, which could lead to water leakage, posing a threat of flooding and a natural and humanitarian disaster that could endanger many residents' lives. Geagea affirmed that "the station of the presidential election is currently the only available crossroads for us to change the declining path the country is on across all economic, financial, monetary, and living aspects," indicating that "this station could change the course towards an upward trend, allowing the country to begin to emerge from the hell we have been thrown into by those who dominate and monopolize power today."
She commented, "I was struck today by an article from journalist Rached Fayed discussing the presidency, where he said: Geagea has drawn the highest ceiling for the presidential battle with his candidacy, opening the door for anyone wishing to advance under this ceiling. Indeed, journalist Fayed was correct in his description and understood the essence of the step taken by the wise one in his recent press conference on June 3, 2022, when he shelved his presidential candidacy for the sake of the opposition forces reaching an agreement on a single sovereign candidate to be elected to the presidency. This clearly shows that nothing is above the supreme national interest and the interest of the Lebanese people for him."
She called on the 67 sovereign and change-seeking deputies, no matter their party or ideological basis, to "put the supreme national interest and the interest of the people above any other interests, whatever their nature may be, and to intensify efforts and communication among us to reach an agreement on a single sovereign candidate to lead the presidential battle and attain a position of responsibility to initiate the change the people elected us for and entrusted us with their parliamentary mandates to achieve."
She concluded, "As long as we still have free pens in this country like that of journalist Rached Fayed, and as long as we still have media institutions like An-Nahar newspaper that struggle and fight under these circumstances to continue telling the truth, the world is in good shape and we will inevitably be victorious in the end and reach the Lebanon that the Lebanese dream of and for which many of our best young people and a significant number of our leaders, including the martyr Gibran Tueni, sacrificed their lives."
It’s worth mentioning that Deputy Geagea has taken it upon herself to secure the funding for the wall, amounting to 250,000 US dollars, and emphasized during the meeting that it should be built to the highest specifications, relying on the latest modern technologies as the safety of our people in Baq'aikafra and the neighboring towns is essential, and there is absolutely no room for risk. She requested those present to pay attention to this matter and to closely and accurately monitor the construction of the wall according to their expertise and backgrounds.
