The British “Middle East Monitor” magazine published on Friday, that providing loans to help citizens marry should not take place until after a serious study and discussions between experts and in countries suffering from declining population, for example, which is not the case today in Libya. It added that these loans should not be disbursed in countries where corruption is out of control and accountability.
Ali Al-Hadi, a professor of family law at the University of Zawia, said that such policies must be discussed to achieve the correct results with a minimum of negative consequences. Their implementation should not be sudden without any legal procedures.
Economic expert Saleh Ammar said that it is a waste of public money at a time when the majority of Libyans are facing economic difficulties, in addition to being discriminatory because it only benefits those wishing to marry.
The magazine stressed the refusal of several parties to continue granting money for marriage while students do not have textbook. The Libyan Women for Peace Forum which is a civil women’s organization that struggles to include women in peacemaking, concluded that the policy of financing marriage is neither urgent nor ethical. The organization added that this policy is unwise and bribery of votes and aims to help Dbeibah expand his public support in the presidential elections, noting that it has so far forced hundreds of underage girls to marry for money only. It explained that others were forced into such marriages by their families in order to obtain aid to cover their expenses and as a result, dozens of divorce cases are already before the courts at a time when the high school teacher from Tarhuna and the father of 6 children, Ali Abdeljalil, expressed his rejection of this policy.
Abdeljalil pointed out that food prices rose by 40% after the overthrow of the former Qadhdhafi regime, whose reign saw bread subsidies by 60% to help people feed their children, while the years 2011 and after have witnessed the end of government support due to widespread corruption and economic mismanagement. He added that corruption has become a league that is joined by officials in education, public services and the police up to the level of minister, which led waste of public funds, embezzlement and mismanagement over the years have drained the government treasury of funds that can be used to continue support policies during the era of the late Colonel Qadhdhafi.
Adapted from Sada Website