16 May 2011
TRIPOLI: Dialogue with the electorate and accountability are the basis of successful municipal work, said participants at a conference organized by the Working Women League in Lebanon and the Tripoli municipality Sunday.
The most important trait of municipal work should be veering away from personal interests, said Iqbal Doughan, the head of WWLL.
Doughan said the success of municipal councils depends on communicating with the electorate as well as pursuing vital development projects in the municipalitys geographical framework. She also stressed the importance of adopting a womens quota in the municipal elections.Tripoli Mayor Nader Ghazal said he was facing serious difficulties and challenges in his mission. According to Ghazal, a study should be carried out on the state of municipal work and the responsibilities of municipalities towards the cities they administer.
He addressed the issue of administrative centralization and its obstruction of municipal work, adding that his municipality has been understaffed since 2000.
Ghazal also discussed the decline in the number of municipal police now just 83 officers, half of whom do administrative work.
I believe that municipal councils should be appointed and not elected, so they can be held accountable, and thus, municipal work can be development oriented and not political, he also said.
Ghazal then addressed the issues of cleanliness, road paving, traffic, poverty and unemployment, all of which affect sections of the citys population.
Mina Mayor Mohammad Issa discussed the administrative and financial problems which obstruct municipal work, stating that the Interior Ministry and caretaker Interior Minister Ziyad Baroud are giving the issue of administrative decentralization the attention it needs.
Copyright The Daily Star 2011.
