Cairo, May 05: The son of Libyan leader Moamer Gathafi and heir apparent Seif al-Islam on Wednesday called for a more “efficient” system of government in Libya, where his father has ruled for more than 40 years.
“We need to reform our system, we need to change our society, we need to reinvent our country,” he told a packed auditorium at the American University in Cairo.
“We need to have an efficient government system,” he said, speaking in English. Sometimes we run after fantasy and romantic ideas (but) we need to be serious. We have to be realistic.”
Barely looking up from his notes throughout his 30-minute speech, Gathafi criticised the lack of local government and civil society in his country.
After heading a coup that overthrew the monarchy in 1969, Moamer Gathafi introduced in 1977 the state of the masses (Al-Jamahiriya). It is built on people’s congresses whose representatives sit in the General People’s Congress. This body, in theory, takes all political decisions, passes legislation and names ministers.
“We dont’ have local governments which is a big mistake. We don’t have municipalities,” the younger Gathafi said.
“We didn’t create formal structures for democracy. There is no independent media … an absence of civil society,” he said.
But he said Libya was taking steps forward with a national reconciliation plan that saw the release of political prisoners, by compensating Libyans whose property had been confiscated and by setting up institutions.
“We will start building step by step,” he said.
Seif al-Islam has been leading a project to modernise the government, though without questioning the leader’s power or overturning the regime’s basic principles.
Announced with grand pomp in August 2007, the programme includes proposals for a constitution and a 70-billion-dollar (47.3 billion euro) economic development plan, but has met resistance from the old guard in the oil-rich country.
—Agencies