Today marks the end of the first phase of the security plan implemented by Interior Minister Bassam Mawlawi and General Director of Internal Security Forces, Major General Imad Othman. A second phase will begin, lasting another ten days, during which officers and personnel from traffic units will be assigned to daytime checkpoints, while officers and personnel from investigative units will handle nighttime checkpoints. This is a departure from the current situation where checkpoints are overcrowded with an unclear number of personnel. The goal is to maintain security presence for as long as possible, with a focus on traffic violations as well as searching vehicles for contraband, weapons, or wanted individuals, according to reports from "Al-Akhbar."
By last Sunday, a relevant source in the Vehicle Registration and Licensing Department (the "Nafaa") confirmed to "Al-Akhbar" that the department received 130 seized motorcycles and completed their processing. The number jumped to 500 motorcycles registered on Wednesday, as stated by Mawlawi in a televised statement where he mentioned the confiscation of over 1600 motorcycles. This raises questions as to whether all of them are unregistered or if the confiscated motorcycles include both legal and illegal ones, as indicated by reports from several areas.
One of the many paradoxes accompanying the plan was the prioritization given to owners of confiscated motorcycles for completing their transactions, prompting some to wish their motorcycles had been seized so they could have the chance to register them without resorting to a broker for a service that the state should provide, and without waiting too long for appointments on the electronic platform or standing in queues at the Dekweneh center, which is operating with only five employees. Meanwhile, the Nafaa center in Ouzai, which is essential for the southern suburbs, has been closed for a year and a half for repairs costing $80,000 that could be collected in just a few working days.
However, the most significant paradox is that the plan lacks any reformative context that can be built upon. The statements from the Internal Security Forces and the Interior Minister about the goal of enforcing the law to protect citizens and ensure their safety raise many questions about what comes after the plan. Will Lebanese citizens continue to pay vehicle registration fees without their cars undergoing inspections in a blatant theft, while many suspicions surround the management and operation of mechanical inspection centers? Since last November, awarding the operation of these centers has been postponed supposedly due to inquiries from four companies about unclear matters in the terms of reference. Seven months have passed since then without clarifying the terms of reference or launching the tender, assuming that is the real reason for the delay.
It is worth noting that the absence of mechanical inspections means that cars and trucks are operating on the roads without verification of whether they meet public safety standards. In this sense, the state's procrastination in operating the mechanical inspection centers for an extended period is also a necessity for protecting citizens and ensuring their safety, representing a serious danger comparable to that posed by armed robbery, as both scenarios could lead to death at a time when the markets are flooded with tires that do not meet safety requirements or used ones that should be illegally imported.
Additionally, will the Interior Minister confront the public, at some point after the plan, about the absence of driving books at the Nafaa instead of repeatedly stating that "within two months we will launch the driving tests," which they have grown accustomed to hearing in his most statements related to the Nafaa for a long time, especially since driving examinations were conducted months ago, and it remains for the "Inkript" company to decide to deliver the driving and vehicle books within two days as promised by the minister?
