DOHA: Criticised by several constituents for making hollow promises, some Central Municipal Council (CMC) members have defended the elected body, saying many of their recommendations to improve civic amenities and launch development projects have been accepted by the government.
The vice-chairman of the CMC has said that since its election in 2011, the public representative body has made 186 recommendations to improve civic amenities and launch development projects, and some 40 percent of them have been accepted by the state.
“This is a good average,” Jassem Abdullah Al Malki told local Arabic daily Al Raya in remarks published yesterday. This is quite an achievement considering that the CMC has consultative status and enjoys no executive powers.
Accusations that the CMC, in its current term, has failed to deliver and its members make promises they don’t keep are not true, said Al Malki, the vice-chairman.
But a constituent, Jassem Al Miraikhi, told the daily some CMC members don’t follow up on issues in their wards that merit their attention.
“The CMC needs to be given executive status so they have a say at least in projects that are valued less than QR100m,” he said. “Currently, the role of the CMC is consultative.”
Another constituent, a woman, Fatima Al Ghazzal, was more critical, and said all development projects were planned by the government in advance and the CMC members have no say in their planning and execution. “So what’s their role?”
She said that in Abu Hamour, for example, there are many streets without lights. Some streets have no walkways. “CMC members must be persistent in making demands for development projects in their respective constituencies,” she said.
Yet another national, Mohamed Ibrahim Al Hassan, said that in his view each constituency should have a five-member committee to help the local CMC member identify issues that need his attention.
These members must be experts and locally connected people who understand the needs of their localities, he suggested.
Al Hassan, however, added that he thought that the current term of the CMC (the fourth one, elected in 2011) was the best one.
Still another citizen, Nasser Al Suwaidi, said that in his opinion some CMC members were active while others were not.
He said he agreed with Al Ghazzal that CMC members had no role in planning and executing development projects as that was done by the government.
According to Al Suwaidi, graduation should be made the minimum academic qualification for a Qatari to be eligible to contest the CMC election. The next CMC poll is due in May 2015. The 29-member body was first elected in early 1999.
In remarks to this newspaper, a CMC member from Al Rayyan, Mohamed Hamoud Al Shafi, said that the critics of the CMC need only look at the key development projects launched and completed across the country since the representative body came into being. Many of the projects were launched on the recommendation of the CMC, he said.
THE PENINSULA
