MP Waddah Sadek and former Interior Minister Ziyad Baroud reacted quickly to indelicate remarks about them, formulated by the Marada leader, Sleiman Frangieh, in his “electoral” speech, on Sunday.
“I don’t think that sarcasm is a quality to be found in those who see themselves as knights. It is certainly not a presidentiel quality,” Mr Baroud asserted in a statement, thanking the Marada leader for referring to him as a “decent” person. “Being decent is part of my education. It’s based on the principle that you don’t become strong if you insult someone,” he said.
Mr Baroud did not mention however, another completely indelicate term used by Frangieh while referring to him, but replied to his sarcasm about his “achievements” as a Minister of Interior. Sleiman Frangieh mocked him while criticizing the acquisition of three Sikorsky helicopters in 2009 as part of a fire-fighting program “which ended up being sold as spare parts”.
Ziyad Baroud listed the reforms he had achieved as head of the Interior Ministry, “including the organization of the parliamentary elections in one day”. He said that the Sikorsky “which were a donation, were indeed sold as spare parts, but 13 years later”. “Perhaps because the aim was to fan fires rather than extinguishing them, which is also the case in politics”, he commented.
Waddah Sadek, who represents the October 17 uprising, rejected accusations that the so-called Change MPs had betrayed the trust of their public by supporting the opposition and the FPM’s presidential candidate, Jihad Azour. “We supported Michel Moawad (the opposition candidate) in a very positive way, in accordance with the Constitution our democratic right, since you mentioned both,” he wrote on his Twitter account. “It was your bloc and your allies who were responsible of the quorum failure during the eleven electoral sessions. This was your reaction to positive initiatives”, he added.
