On Monday, Head of the Foreign Affairs Committee of the Libyan Parliament, Yousef Al-Agouri criticised the “deteriorating administrative and financial performance of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in the outgoing of Government of National Unity (GNU).”
Al-Agouri added that this “reflected negatively on its performance of its competencies, and the accumulation of financial obligations on it.”
He stressed that the recent report by the Libyan Audit Bureau agreed with several observations recorded by the Foreign Affairs Committee, on the performance of the Ministry, and occupied a large part of the report.
“Through the progress of the Attorney General’s investigations regarding abuses in diplomatic missions, the extent of mismanagement of financial resources, the expansion of spending, and the lack of transparency about expenditures became evident,” he claimed.
Al-Agouri attributed the reason to the “lack of parliamentary oversight of the Ministry’s work due to its refusal to cooperate, which is also considered a violation of the rules of democracy.”
He expressed his “deep dissatisfaction with the common practice of abuse of power, which resulted in the disruption of international cooperation programs that would have benefited Libya in various fields, without clear reasons.”
He stated that the MoFA was “obstructing the granting of visas to members of diplomatic missions and international institutions operating in Libya without acceptable justifications. This has seriously damaged Libya’s international relations.”
The MP noted that the Ministry “prevents diplomatic missions from visiting eastern Libya, which indicates that the ministry no longer represents all Libyans and the national interest.”
Al-Agouri called on Libya’s oversight bodies represented by the Anti-Corruption Authority and the Attorney General to “continue carrying out their duties, and to complete all investigations into the abuses committed by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, and hold accountable those responsible for harming the public interest and Libyan diplomacy.”