Ziad Baroud - Image and Social Life

Image and Social Life

Ziyad Baroud's close relation with the Lebanese public made him widely respected and admired by the people. He was accessible to all, and is known to have been one of the very few government officials who personally responded to emails sent by citizens. Baroud was often seen in public civilian settings going about his job, taking his own car at night to directly interact with traffic offenders. He would often stand at security check points in the late hours of the night and personally discuss the importance of speed limits and traffic laws with young speeders, and resultantly, send them to spend three days at the "Kun Hadi" association in order for them to understand the dangers they face and pose to others when they speed and violate traffic rules.

One famous anecdote, which was popularized by a blog, relates a December 2009 traffic incident describing Baroud's hands-on approach. It was the month of holidays, and Baroud was caught in one of the traffic jams as police tried to get a handle on the situation marking off roads that were to be closed for the following day's Beirut marathon. “Instead of sitting in his blacked out Mercedes – as you can bet dozens of other big cheeses and probably a handful of the political class were – Baroud took matters to hand. The Interior Minister, much to the obvious chagrin of his bodyguards, got out of his car, rolled up his shirtsleeves and started directing traffic himself.” As for his reputation within the ranks of officials, Baroud holds high esteem in the eyes of many decision makers in the country. Maronite Patriarch Bechara Boutros Al-Rai once described Baroud as “a national minister and the hope for every Lebanese person. Nobody can relinquish him.”

Baroud is also very popular with political bloggers, both local and international. Upon his resignation, a hoard of encouraging blog articles flooded the Internet in support of Baroud's service and resignation decision.