Dr. Mohammed Abu Haidar, the general director of the Ministry of Economy, toured several libraries in the commercial market of Sidon and its surroundings, accompanied by Ali Shakroun, the head of the southern economy office, and a team of inspectors who recorded three violation reports against the libraries for not adhering to pricing in Lebanese currency and for increasing profit margins contrary to the official margin.
Abu Haidar stated: "We conducted our tour today on the libraries coinciding with the start of the academic year. Of course, there is a strike by state employees, which is a legitimate strike in light of the erosion and deterioration of salary values. Also, consumer protection inspectors are working under challenging conditions where their transport compensation is 195 Lebanese pounds per kilometer, meaning if they travel from the far north to the far south, the fare will not exceed 50,000 Lebanese pounds, indicating we are facing a disaster regarding transport."
He added: "However, during crises, we cannot remain indifferent, and in front of the people's pain, we cannot stand idly by, even to a minimum. We are one of the monitoring bodies, many of which are called to support us in this matter. The people's pain is a red line, and as we are on the brink of the academic year, we toured several libraries and saw together the violations based on which reports were issued by the inspectors. I wish one of these libraries had at least minimal compliance."
Abu Haidar announced that "the violations varied between prices for books that were printed three years ago at a price of 15,000 Lebanese pounds, at a time when the Corona crisis was at its peak and teaching was conducted online, whereas today they are sold at the checkout for 220,000 to 230,000 Lebanese pounds, which is blatant fraud in every sense of the word."
He noted, "Another matter we agreed on is that books coming from France, priced in euros, are calculated based on the exchange rate. However, the local books, which should have been priced at 76 percent of the exchange rate in dollars, did not show this commitment. Simply put, all the libraries we visited in the Sidon commercial market and its surroundings are in violation. The people are the ones paying the price, and the citizens we saw inside the libraries can no longer afford to buy school bags and stationery for their children."
He confirmed, "The reports issued against the violators will be expedited to the competent judiciary," expressing his understanding of the "legitimate sector strikes," emphasizing that "the citizen should not be the one to pay the price. We are also parents and have children, and we suffer for them in schools." He said, "This issue is similar to many other issues, including those related to generators in the city of Sidon. We contacted the head of the Sidon-Zahrani municipal union, Engineer Mohammed Saudi, urging all citizens to file complaints in case any generator owner does not adhere to the Ministry of Energy's pricing."
He also thanked the committee tasked with resolving generator issues, including regional deputies, stakeholders, municipalities, and the judiciary, headed by the public prosecutor in the south, Judge Raheef Ramadan, for the mechanism they established, confirming its continuation.
In response to a question about the judicial mechanism for the violating libraries, Abu Haidar said, "Issuing a report is the highest level of action we can take. If we wish to go further, the security forces would then take a signal from the competent judiciary, which may grant permission to close the library. However, the question is where the benefit lies in this action as we approach the school season." He added, "We came today, with all our love and respect for the security forces, without security escorts because we do not want to reach the judicial aspect, as our goal is not to close institutions that still employ a number of workers in this country, but to not find a single committed library is unacceptable. The violation reports have been written and will be sent quickly to the competent judiciary to take appropriate legal action against them and serve as a lesson for others in this field."
Abu Haidar arrived at the economy office in Sidon at 9:30 a.m., where he was greeted by the head of the office, Ali Shakroun, in the presence of inspectors. The visit was an opportunity for Abu Haidar to listen to Shakroun about the issues faced by inspectors in performing their duties, primarily the lack of electricity, which hinders the completion of administrative and technical matters and other urgent needs for the operation of the department.
Abu Haidar requested Shakroun to seek to secure electricity for which the required amount would be allocated. He then moved with Shakroun and the inspectors to the municipality of Sidon, where they visited its president, Engineer Mohammed Saudi, in his office at the municipal palace. During the meeting, they discussed issues of daily concern to citizens, particularly the application of electricity generator pricing.
Abu Haidar praised the efforts made by the Sidon municipality and the city's active forces in strictly enforcing generator owners to adhere to the official monthly pricing issued by the Ministry of Energy.
He also commended the judiciary and security forces for implementing legal actions against violators, calling on citizens to file complaints against generator owners who insist on violating pricing.
