Read Full Magazine Here. Lebanon has been without a president for almost two years since Michel Aoun’s term ended on 31 October 2022, with opposing politico-sectarian blocks unable to agree on a candidate.
National and international initiatives to overcome the impasse on the election of the next Lebanese President have yet to generate any tangible result. The presidential vacuum is compounded by the fact that, over two years since the 15 May 2022 legislative elections, Lebanon’s government remains in caretaker status. Anti-refugee sentiment, measures, and incidents continue to be a source of concern in Lebanon, which hosts the largest number of refugees per capita in the world. In a 16 May letter, seven non-governmental organizations, including Amnesty International, urged Lebanon to “immediately halt forced deportations of Syrian refugees and reverse a set of unprecedented and draconian measures” recently adopted. The letter notes that about a fifth of the one billion Euro financial assistance package to Lebanon announced on 2 May by the President of the European Commission, Ursula von der Leyen, “is designated to support the Lebanese army and security services’ border management and migration control” and that, since the announcement, Lebanese authorities have adopted new policies that would “push even more refugees to flee the country”.
On 13 June, French President Emanuel Macron announced a trilateral contact group composed of the US, France, and Israel to advance a French proposal for de-escalation, adding that there would be a similar engagement with the Lebanese authorities. The following day, however, Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant rejected the French proposal, stating that Israel would not participate in the “trilateral framework”.
Hezbollah has said on several occasions that until the war in Gaza ends, it will not take part in any negotiations, and the Lebanese front “will remain active”. But in a 24 June interview discussing a recent visit to Israel and Lebanon by Deputy Assistant to the US President Amos Hochstein, Lebanese Parliament Speaker Nabih Berri, who is also the President of the Amal Movement, an ally of Hezbollah, said that, in the context of a US proposal that Hezbollah withdraws 8 kilometers north of the Blue Line, the IDF should withdraw by the same distance. He added that he had not received a response to his proposal during Hochstein’s visit, however. In recent weeks, numerous local and international indicators have suggested that Lebanon’s prolonged presidential vacuum may be nearing its end.
Despite international and regional efforts to pave the way for elections, Lebanon’s political elite faces persistent obstacles within the country’s political landscape.
Noting the above, it is important to shed light on the biography of Ziad Alexandre Hayek who is a very special leader in the Arab world. He is a multinational citizen of the world.
Ziad-Alexandre Hayek has 43 years of experience in investment banking, information and communication technology (ICT), public policy, public-private partner- ship (PPP), and corporate governance and strategy. In 2019, he was nominated to be President of the World Bank.
Hayek is currently the President of the Geneva-based World Association of PPP Units & Professionals (WAPPP), which has 61 governments as members. He is also a Co-Founder of Web3 tech company Earth64 and Head of Global Strategic Alliances at HyperCycle Ai.
Previously, he was Vice Chair of the UN Working Party on PPP, Secretary General of Lebanon’s High Council for Privatization and PPP, CEO of Talaya Water Company, CEO of Lonbridge Associates, Senior Man- aging Director of Bear Stearns, President of Indosuez Mexico, Head of International Securitization at Citibank, Vice President at Salomon Brothers, and member of the US Council on Foreign Relations.
Hayek has been, and continues to be, a member of the boards of several companies, two banks, five tech startups, a university, and various non-profit organizations.
He studied in Lebanon, Mexico, and the USA. He holds a master’s in international management from the University of Texas at Dallas. He also holds certificates in AI from IBM, in climate-resilient infrastructure from the Global Center on Adaptation, and in Middle Eastern Affairs from Harvard University. The UK Financial Conduct Authority qualifies him as CEO of a financial institution.
Hayek converses with 11 languages and is a citizen of Lebanon, the UK, and the USA. Hayek has two children with his wife, Soheila Youssefzadeh: Gisèle and Daniel.
As such, BUSINESS LIFE explores the structural factors that have limited the scope of Lebanon’s economy, the available solutions and opportunities to save Lebanon in a unique interview with Ziad Hayek, the renowned Lebanese Presidential Candi- date and the visionary leader in business, finance, and politics who has mastered the new language of wisdom, love, and courage while advancing positive initiatives in responsible leadership and corporate social responsibility.
Addressing Lebanon’s political dead- lock and quest for stability, Ziad Hayek emphasizes the importance of unity within fragmentation. He acknowledges Lebanon’s historical diversity, tracing back to Phoenician times, and passionately asserts that this diversity is what makes the country truly beautiful. Hayek advocates for a “tabouleh approach” to national unity, where different ingredients come together to create a harmonious whole.
Regarding Hezbollah’s influence on the presidential elections, Hayek recognizes its significance, as well as that of other factions. He believes that any president must have support across the spectrum to be effective. However, he also questions the egotistical pursuit of power and calls for focusing on the country’s well-being.
On corruption, Hayek argues that fighting it directly is like battling windmills. Instead, he proposes fixing governance mechanisms. He outlines nine aspects of governance that need reform, including the need for a chief executive officer (CEO) for the country, poor continuity due to frequent government changes, and the absence of checks and balances. He also high- lights the need for financial independence for local governments and a re-evaluation of minority rights.
In summary, Ziad Hayek advocates for a united Lebanon, emphasizes governance reforms, and challenges prevailing norms to address corruption and promote stability.
BL: How do you see your mission to dissolve Lebanon’s political deadlock and forge a path to a stable government?
Ziad Hayek: Today, many political movements call for federalism or other forms of division, but I am sure they will fail. From Phoenician times, Lebanon has been a land of city-states, but those city- states have always been connected and shared a common destiny. While it is true that Lebanon was not administratively a single entity in history, Lebanon has always been a single society and a coherent demographic entity. The Phoenicians had temples not only in coastal Byblos and Sidon and Tyre but also in Baalbek and Faqrah and Niha and all over Lebanon. The Lebanese accent is common to all the Lebanese. You just have to cross the border to hear people pronounce the Aleph “Ah” and cross back into Lebanon to hear people pronounce the Aleph “Eh.” That’s because we are one community. Therefore, we need to figure out how we want our unity to be and what form it should take. Certainly, we have different customs. Certainly, we celebrate different occasions. Certainly, we like to think of ourselves as different from “the others,” but in reality, we are more similar than different. We have more in common than those exceptions that we like to point out as differences. I’ve said it before, our national dish is not Hummus. Hummus ingredients are mashed together into a homogeneous, unicolored paste. Tabouleh is our national dish. Nobody would eat burghul by itself, nobody would have a plate of parsley for lunch, and nobody would bite into a lemon, but when we put all these ingredients together, we have one of the best-tasting salads in the world. That’s why today you find tabouleh served everywhere in the world, from Latin America to North America, even in the Far East, you find tabouleh in stores. That is our national dish. Our diversity is what makes us beautiful, and it is that approach to national union that we need to adopt. We need the tabouleh approach. That’s what I’m working for: Unity in diversity. Lebanon is a message to humanity, a message of accepting diversity, tolerance, and mutual understanding. Many cynics today say “Can’t you see? The Lebanese are fighting each other!” I say, who’s fighting who? Politicians are fighting with each other to determine who will have a seat in government or parliament or take advantage of one ministry or another. But do I see people fighting with each other?? I see people going to their workplaces, Sunni and Druze and Shia and Maronite and Orthodox and Catholic, and I see them all working together, and they socialize together. I see companies integrating people of all different backgrounds. And I see social occasions, even in, let’s say, Christian areas, we find that many people working there might be Muslim and vice versa. We must understand that Lebanon is a message at the level of the people, not politicians.
BL: How do you see your role as President?
Ziad Hayek: As president, I would be an active president, not a president who sits and talks only once in a while to people. I want to be an active president who talks to people every day. and brings people together to counterbalance the divisions at the political level because if the people start seeing that there is a way for Lebanon to regain its prominence and fix its economy, and if they can see that their lives can be improved, I’m sure they will put pressure on politicians. But when they have no hope of a way to fix things, they leave. Our politicians today are blind about this point, or maybe they’re not blind, but they don’t care. Syrians are replacing the Lebanese people in this country. It’s a significant demographic shift. The Lebanese are leaving, and the Syrians are coming. I’m curious if our politicians think they’re going to be able to govern a sizeable Syrian presence. They are going to be very unpleasantly surprised.
BL: Can you achieve victory without Hezbollah’s backing? Or will we be forced to join forces with them?
Ziad Hayek: You know, Hezbollah is very influential in Lebanese politics. I don’t think I or any other candidate can become president without Hezbollah’s support. But Hezbollah is not the only influencer. Other parties are, too. If Hezbollah had complete control over politics in Lebanon, their candidate, Sleiman Frangieh, would have been president by now. So, would I want Hezbollah to accept me as president? Of course, yes. But I also want to be accepted by other people, by the Lebanese Forces, by the Kataëb, by the Free Patriotic Movement, by the Tashnaq, by the Druze, by the Sunni members of parliament. Any president who doesn’t have the support of every faction is going to be a failed president. What’s the point? When I look at candidates today who are counting on the support of Hezbollah but not listening to other factions, I say, what are they doing to themselves? Why do they want that headache? They will become president like Michel Aoun did. They will sit on that chair in Baabda but will not be able to govern, and they will have problems for six years. Why would they want to do that? If I were them, I would say thank you. I don’t need Hezbollah’s support because I don’t have the support of the other parties. I will make room for somebody else that everybody can agree on. But unfortunately, that patriotic spirit is not present. It’s all about ego. I say, “Why do you want to be president? What is your plan? What have you offered this country? What are your qualifications to be president? Other than your ego. What is there? Nothing. What strategy do you have to end Lebanon’s economic chaos and smear out bribery for good?”
BL: What about corruption? How would you be able to fight corruption?
Ziad Hayek: You don’t fight corruption and win. You cannot win against corruption. Somebody cleverer than I said once that you can win wars against proper nouns, like Germany and Japan, but you cannot win wars against common nouns, like terrorism, poverty, or corruption. So, fighting corruption is like fighting windmills. And there’s corruption in every country in the world. It’s not unique. Now, do we have more corruption than some other countries? Yes, we do. How do we deal with that situation? We deal with the problem not by fighting corruption but by fixing the governance of our system. If the governance mechanisms are not tight enough, the natural world is one of corruption. Therefore, it is not about finding who is corrupt and putting them in jail. It’s more about fixing our system of governance.
BL: What do you mean by “fixing our system of governance”?
Ziad Hayek: I’ve written a paper on this. I can talk for hours about it. Eight aspects of governance need to be changed in Lebanon to fix our problems. For example, what is the level of authority of a minister versus that of the director general in a ministry? Well, in good governance, and before Ta’if, the director general was the ministry’s chief executive officer. The director general sets out the strategy to implement the Government’s policy, gets it approved by the minister and the Government, and then executes that strategy, even when governments change. What was the role of the minister? The minister’s role was to oversee the performance of the director general. After Ta’if and during the Syrian occupation, every time a government was to be formed, dozens of hopefuls would swarm to Damascus to ask to be made minister. The Syrians found out that it’s easier to control ministers than to control director generals. So, they started expanding the authority of the minister. Until today, we have a situation where the minister is considered the ultimate power in the ministry and can overrule the director general. The minister even sits and negotiates contracts with companies that provide services for the ministry. In other words, he acts as CEO, not as chairman. The problem with that is who holds the minister accountable? Who determines if the minister is corrupt or acting in good faith? In theory, it is the Council of Ministers that does that. However, in reality, the Council of Ministers does not supervise the ministers. Its members neither have the time, nor the info, nor the ability to supervise each other. And even if one minister wanted to supervise a colleague, they wouldn’t have all the information necessary to do that. Therefore, we have a system today where ministers are little dictators in their ministries, with no supervision. This is what causes corruption. And these are the kinds of things that we need to change.
BL: You said there are eight changes needed to fix the governance of Lebanon. What are some others?
Ziad Hayek: Well, to begin with, we need a CEO in the country. Our constitution did not create a chief executive officer. Usually, the president or the prime minister is the chief executive officer in countries. In Lebanon, the president used to be the CEO. We took away the president’s powers but did not pass those powers to the prime minister. We have an economic and financial crisis, for example. The president does not have the authority to deal with it. The prime minister alone cannot deal with it. The minister of finance cannot deal with it. The governor of the central bank cannot deal with it. The Council of Ministers is supposed to rule the country and deal with it. However, we all know you cannot effectively run a non-profit organization with a three- member committee. How can a committee of 30 people run a country!? Consensus is hard to reach, and voting typically divides the Council into two camps, which is counterproductive in a country that needs to work by cooperation. This is a problem of governance. We need to have someone be the final decision-maker. You need to have a head of the Government, which we need. That’s something we need to fix. There is no continuity. The average lifespan of a Lebanese government is eighteen months. It can take several months to form a new Government. During that time, all the work that was taking place has stopped. It is waiting for the new minister. A new minister is appointed and has now to act as CEO of the ministry without any proper training for the job. They typically start by asking, “What was my predecessor’s plan? I can only take responsibility for it after first studying it carefully. So, they spend 3 or 4 months acquainting themselves with what’s happening. Then, they realize that there is something there they can change. Therefore, they say it is their plan, not the plan of the previous minister. Accordingly, they change something ridiculous. And they say, now I have my plan. And now, because all the work that has been done before is now obsolete. They need to hire new advisers. So, they run tenders for advisers. It takes them about 7 or 8 months to bring in new advisers. By now, the Government is one year into its mandate. The new advisers start working. They have about 6 months before the government changes. Before there is any result, the Government’s mandate ends. And then we have 6 to 10 months again of no government. This is abysmal governance. For instance it may take 5 years from the design of an airport’s PPP to the time it’s built. .In Lebanon, the span of 2 or 3 governments. And they have to stick to the plan. There must be continuity, which, in the previous system, the director general of the ministry provided the continuity. But as long as the minister is ruling, there is no continuity.
There is no accountability. Ministers and members of Parliament have immunity. Hence, you cannot sue them. Furthermore, all ministers have systematically refused to establish regulatory authorities for their sectors, even when the law requires it. Therefore, ministers can sign whatever they want and make millions of dollars. To make things worse, the people who want to fix the system are transgressors of the law themselves. I give an example. I know friends who are supposedly fighting corruption, who prefer to take the far right lane to make a left turn when the line to make a left turn is too long. They are willing to break the law and disturb other drivers to save two minutes of time. I say they are more corrupt than a minister who stands to gain two mil- lion dollars from engaging in a fraudulent transaction. It’s a system that needs to be changed. We have no checks and balances. We have governments of national unity, for example. Our system is a parliamentarian system, which makes it very difficult to have checks and balances. The UK has a parliamentary system where the prime minister is in front of Parliament, and the opposition is giving him hard questions and telling him, why are you doing this? Why are you doing that? Since I returned to Lebanon in June 2006, I can remember only one session of Parliament dedicated to questioning the Government. In addition, most of the time, we have governments of national unity. So, when we have a Council of Ministers, which is a small copy of Parliament, how can Parliament supervise the Council of Ministers? It doesn’t.
There are no checks and balances. Parliament elects the president, and parliament chooses the prime minister, and the parliament approves the council of ministers. So, there is no separation between the legislative and executive branches. There is no majority decision in Lebanon. Minorities can have a veto that blocks everything until the minority is satisfied. We call it consensual democracy. Indeed, minority rights should be protected, but they should be dealt with differently. Not every government decision infringes on minority rights. Some sectarian minority rights, for example, could be safeguarded by the Senate -- an institution we have not formed despite it being part of our Constitution. However, minority rights should not apply just to any community that is not happy. Why is the Shia community, the Sunni community, or the Maronite community in Lebanon supposed to have veto power? Why not the Protestants? Why not the Druze, or Armenians, or Nesotrians, or others? Just because they are a smaller minority? But we are all minorities. What makes one minority more relevant than the other? Is it because it is a little bit larger?
There is no financial independence for local governments. The municipalities have to get the approval of the Minister of Interior for expenditures and for their budgets. Thus, if you don’t have local governments being able to collect taxes and spend and do improvements, we need to have some level of decentralization which we don’t have. The lack of decentralization is a pressing issue that needs to be addressed. There is no delegation of authority. So, everything is centralized in the Council of Ministers. If you want to dig a well for water for your house, you need the Council of Ministers to approve it. Some employee of government, third level employee, is invited to attend a conference in Greece. They need the Council of Ministers to approve it. Properly governed organizations are based on a delegation of authority down the line, with a delegation of responsibility. If I am a bank, I cannot have the board making every decision. Who do I give a loan to? The board does not make that decision. The board has authorized the manager of the branch of Tripoli to decide on making any loan less than $1,000. That manager can approve it. And if it’s a loan of $10,000, he needs to get the approval of his boss. And if it is $100,000, his boss, and if it is $10 million, it may need to go to the board. But the manager of the branch of Tripoli is replaced. In government, nobody can make a decision. So, you have a paralyzed phase, you have 200,000 people working in government, none of them has any decision. It has all to go to the Council of Ministers. How can you function as an organization?
BL: Can you avoid a war with Israel, or is Lebanon sitting on the edge of a shocking battle with multiple regional powers?
Ziad Hayek: I think there are interests in the region, America, Iran, and others, that are much more powerful than the Lebanese state or the Lebanese government when it comes to such matters. What the president of Lebanon can do is to create an environment that fosters friendships, understanding, and cooperation and works towards that. I think nobody has an interest in war. Israel is not interested in a war. Anybody that says that Israel is interested in gaining territory in Lebanon, I don’t believe that. They’ve been here, they’ve tried, and today, Lebanon is stronger than it used to be. Nor do I think that anybody in Lebanon wants to invade Israel and take territory in Israel. OK, it may be something nice to think about, reconquer Jerusalem, but realistically, today, nobody is aiming for that. Even Hezbollah is saying we have an issue with the Shebaa farms. I’m sure it can be resolved. Do I think I can help Lebanon avoid war? Yes. I can help Lebanon avoid war through active diplomacy.
BL: How to uplift the burden imposed on Lebanon and the Arab countries?
Ziad Hayek: If you’re talking about some countries, Lebanon is one of them; it’s because their politicians allow foreigners to have influence. Foreign ambassadors usually deal with the minister of finance. In our case, the ambassadors visit anybody they want. We give those ambassadors a free hand and give them power over us. Why? Why do we have to wait for the US or Iran or Saudi Arabia to decide who should be president of Lebanon?!! What are we afraid of? The Lebanese Government withdrew my nomination for the presidency of the World Bank, apparently at the request of the US, so their candidate would win by default. The Lebanese Government acquiesced because “it did not want to hurt Lebanon’s relationship with the US.” Why should just a nomination to a post damage our relationship with the US? What is the US going to do? So, they’re going to stop their support of the Lebanese army? Why? So that the Daesh becomes powerful? Are they going to start supporting anti- western politicians? Of course not. So, why worry? We have to have courage. We have to believe in ourselves. Countries that believe in themselves don’t have foreign influence, and foreigners respect that. Nobody respects us today. We don’t make our own decisions. We’re waiting for them to make the decisions for us. What logic is this? They talk about it on television like it’s a normal thing. Lebanon is not an adolescent state. We should learn to make our own decisions.
BL: How do you foresee the potential opportunities between Lebanon and the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia?
Ziad Hayek: There are opportunities because the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia has a very enlightened ruler today. He is trying to make Saudi Arabia a global economic powerhouse. He is trying to develop the country economically, socially, ecologically, and on every level with Vision 2030. Lebanon and the Lebanese can contribute a lot to that. Most advisory firms in Saudi Arabia today are mainly staffed by young Lebanese, so the Lebanese can contribute a lot to that Vision and to the bright future of Saudi Arabia. Also, Lebanon can benefit a lot from having its companies have access to the Saudi market, where they can expand and prosper. Ours can be a mutually beneficial symbiotic relationship.
BL: Will you support digital and AI opportunities if you become President, and how?
Ziad Hayek: Obviously, we have to have e-government because e-government is one of the elements that can help stem corruption. Again, as long as a person has to go to a government office in person to obtain a service from a government employee, there is enormous potential for corruption. It can be done online, paid with a credit card, and there is no corruption. Of course, e-government is a priority. Artificial intelligence can also play a role, but we must solve our main issues before we get to that.
BL: How will you secure job opportunities for the Lebanese graduates and others?
Ziad Hayek: By doing various things: resolving the financial crisis, reorganizing the banking sector, and establishing a clear economic policy. Also, by creating a fund for investment in small and medium enterprises as is delineated in my financial plan for Lebanon, a $1 billion fund for SMEs by investing in infrastructure through public-private partnership, by allowing for the distributed production of electricity, by integrating better our economy with the economies of our neighbor Syria as well as with the Gulf economies.
BL: Can you improve Lebanon’s banking sector?
Ziad Hayek: It’s not about improving Lebanon’s banking sector. Many people want to rebuild Lebanon’s banking sector the way it used to be. I am not interested in that. Banks worldwide are facing problems, closing branches, going digital, and moving financial services online. Banking in Lebanon should become digital. Perhaps we should even adopt a Central Bank Digital Currency (CBDC). We need to transfer the investment of the Lebanese from the banking sector to the capital markets and stimulate capital markets. Thus, a reorganization of the banking sector in Lebanon needs to take place. We certainly don’t need 40 banks. We need a smaller number of banks.
BL: What is the ideal number?
Ziad Hayek: I don’t know that there is an ideal number, that is not the point. The point is that the whole idea that banks are institutions that are going to have branches around the country and they are going to employ people etc. is the wrong way of thinking.
BL: What are your resolutions to end Lebanon’s electricity problem?
Ziad Hayek: Distributed energy, distributed power generation: meaning that we do not build big power plants but build more solar farms and allow feed-in tariff for people who have excess energy from their solar panels. We have a desert in Lebanon; it’s called the Anti-Lebanon. The Anti-Lebanon is a vast part of Lebanon that can be used to produce electricity through solar energy. Many parts of it can be used to solve our solid waste crisis.
BL: How will you secure peace and security in Lebanon among the prevailing and recurrent crimes especially in the areas around the airport?
Ziad Hayek: The first issue is better policing. We have some 20,000 internal security officers and can hardly see a traffic cop on our roads. Where are these 20,000 people? What is their job? We’re not using them, though we pay their salaries. We have to use them and if they’re not useful, they should be let go. But we need more traffic cops. We need to distribute the funding to the municipalities, so they have their own police because local police know the area.
We need local police instead of the national security. The other aspect of the problem is the refugee crisis. There’s a lot of poverty, and many people are not connected to the local society and are unknown. When you have anonymity, you’re in a new country; committing a crime is easier, primarily if young children are not taught morals and ethics. What ethical education are they getting? We need to deal with the refugee crisis, which requires very bold steps because we won’t be able to deal with it by being diplomatic and nice and having the European Parliament come here and give us a billion dollars. We’re going to deal with the refugee crisis by getting boats and putting the refugees on boats to Europe; it’s what the governors of Texas and Florida did: they got buses, and they sent the buses to New York and Chicago and California and all the people there that were saying we need refugees, you have to take care of them. Now, they are saying we need to stop the influx of immigrants into the US. It’s the same thing: why should Lebanon suffer? Why don’t the Arabs take care of them? The Europeans want us to take care of them! This is ridiculous. We have to take firm steps.
BL: The army and soldiers are a very essential element to the security and borders of any country, how the army and soldiers are going to protect Lebanon at a time when they are not able to support their families? What’s the solution?
Ziad Hayek: The government should collect taxes to pay the members of our armed forces. Today, the government neither collects taxes nor pays salaries. This must change. We need to improve collection and fight tax evasion. We also need to review our fiscal policy. We need a new tax strategy. We need to have fiscal justice. For example, today we have indirect taxes, which act like poll taxes. We are basing our primary tax revenue on the value-added tax (VAT). So, the more one consumes, the more one pays. But poor people consume more as a percentage of their income than rich people. Rich people consume little and save the rest, often abroad, not even in Lebanon. On top of that, most business owners benefit from the gray cash economy and under-report revenue. Therefore, they are not paying their fair share of taxes, which is unfair. We need to tax people depending on their income.
BL: How would you suggest a terminal end to stop Syrians and others from entering Lebanon illegally?
Ziad Hayek: The US has not been able to stop the flow of immigrants illegally, nor has Europe. What we need better governments for that process, for example, Switzerland has open borders, you can move into Switzerland from France or Austria, and almost nobody will ask you anything, you can go over mountains, but Switzerland doesn’t have a big problem with illegal people because there is control over the companies what paperwork the employee needs to present. So again, it’s about putting the governance and control mechanisms in place. It’s not by policing the border.
BL: What’s your resolution to improve the airport and its surrounding road to the arriving tourists?
Ziad Hayek: Our airport is a mess. There are many problems related to it that need to be fixed. We need a second terminal. We must take care of the terrible odor the visitors smell when they land. The solid waste landfill across the airport’s main runway should be closed. The sewage river running on the side of the airport’s second runway needs to be treated. The idle sewage treatment facility there is not operating. It should be. The taxi mayhem needs to be stopped. Proper transportation quality should be made available. Price gouging must be eliminated. Car rental facilities need to be better located. Road signaling when leaving the airport must be fixed. Do you know that the main road to the center of Beirut is an unmarked exit? Any tourist not knowing to take it ends up in Daahyeh. Last but not least, airport road security needs to be tightened, not every now and then, but always.
BL: What are your solutions to improve the integrity of the Lebanese judicial system?
Ziad Hayek: Of course, the President cannot decide on this matter because the President does not govern Lebanon directly but exerts influence over the government. The main thing is to separate the judiciary from the other branches of government. That’s also essential good governance. The judges should not be selected by Parliament or by politicians. They should be chosen by other judges and approved by Parliament. Many of our regulations date back to the Ottoman Empire. We must conduct a comprehensive review of our legal framework to ensure it fits the modern world. For example, many laws governing commercial and business activities need to be revised and changed. We may need to allow for the creation of decentralized autonomous organizations; we need to look at different classes of shares, for example, convertible preferred, which we don’t have. We need to look at including future options as financial instruments. The World Bank has recommended many changes in its Doing Business report. We need to take those seriously to succeed at attracting foreign direct investment.
BL: What are the main challenges that we are facing today?
Ziad Hayek: The challenges are ending the war in the South and electing a president.
BL: Will you be able to prepare the government for all regions in Lebanon and how will you solve the political power ruling some areas in Lebanon?
Ziad Hayek: I don’t think that this is something the president can do on day one. This needs to come through agreement among the Lebanese parties regarding developing our country. My proposal is to empower government personnel. Some people talk about decentralization. Of course, local authorities know the situation on the ground better, but what is even more important is to empower authorities both national and local to make decision. I want to change the mentality that says if the other region of the country is not abiding by the law, then I don’t want to abide by it either. I want local communities to start setting a good example. Investments will go to them; property prices in their area will rise because everybody is going to want to live in a properly governed zone. People want to live where the police polices, where double parking and road blocking are not allowed, where people who litter are fined, etc... Let us start not with controlling the country but finding 2 or 3 municipalities that are willing to enforce the law and those municipalities will set the example for the rest.
BL: What about your recent interview with Arab News in which you talked about Lebanon’s presidential elections and Hezbollah, the war with Israel, economic reforms, the IMF and elections, the GCC countries?
Ziad Hayek: I like challenging questions and Katie Jensen was a very good interviewer. It was a great interview and I hope that more people will watch it.
BL: How was your Commencement Address at Haigazian University?
Ziad Hayek: My speech at Haigazian University was a message to the university graduates to love taking challenges and look fruitful opportunities and contribute to the technological revolution.
BL: How do you expect to see the reflection of your vision in votes?
Ziad Hayek: I don’t know. The problem is I’m not present in the Lebanese media because the Lebanese media wants me to pay to be covered. In other countries, they have a rule to give all the candidates equal time. In Lebanon, we don’t have that rule. They will have anybody on a talk show, even idiots go on talk shows, but not candidates because you have to pay if you are a candidate. Some candidates can pay if they belong to big parties or are wealthy. I’m neither rich nor do I belong to a party, so I’m not able to pay for that, and consequently, I’m not covered. However, all members of parliament know me; they’ve known me for many years, for I’ve worked for 13 years in government at a quasi-ministerial level. At the end of the day, they are the ones who are going to vote, not the people.
BL: Will you share your great journey ahead?
Ziad Hayek: I see a difficult journey ahead of me, but one that I will embrace with a lot of enthusiasm because I have had that love of Lebanon all my life. I can be proud of that, which is my life’s mission. I want a Lebanon I can be proud of. I’m Lebanese and have my head up high. I don’t want to say I’m Lebanese, and I’m worried they are going to treat me like a terrorist, they are going to put me in that line, and they are not going to give me a visa. I want to be proud of being Lebanese, but there are many hurdles ahead once I become president, but I love challenges.
