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Closure of PC offices affects local governance

Closure of PC offices affects local governance

author avatar
3 Mar 2015 - 19:31
Closure of PC offices affects local governance
author avatar
3 Mar 2015 - 19:31

NEILI/BAMYAN CITY (Pajhwok): Provincial council members in central Bamyan and Daikundi provinces say the closure of their offices has a negative impact on good governance.

A month back, the Wolesi Jirga or lower house of parliament, amended the law on provincial councils, barring them from evaluating the performance of local departments.

The lower house’s decision sparked protests by provincial council members in all provinces and they closed their offices.

Council members in Daikundi said they were unable to resolve people’s problems after the PC office had been closed.

The council’s deputy head, Subhan Naibi, told Pajhwok Afghan News the closure of their office had a negative impact on good governance as people visited their representatives individually at their homes to share their problems with them.

He said they couldn’t solve people’s problems individually because council members had to jointly discuss such problems.

“We have been able to solve small problems of people as our office is closed, but the members do not attend meetings to make decisions and find solution to problems related to the provincial government,” he said.

Naibi said they could share viable advises with the provincial administration how to improve governance, reconstruction affairs and people’s situation if their office was open.

Daikundi residents also believe their problems could not be solved until the provincial council office is reopened.

Hashim Zahidi, a resident of Neili city, the provincial capital, said provincial council members should be granted the right to oversee local government’s performance.

He said the PC office should be reopened as soon as possible so that they could share their problems with their representatives who would forward the problems to the authorities concerned.

The Independent Directorate of Local Governance (IDLG) had announced that a draft law allowing PCs to evaluate local government’s affairs, had been shared with the council of ministers.

A meeting of the cabinet, chaired by President Ashraf Ghani, last week decided to give back PC members their right of evaluation.

The Provincial Councils Coordination Commission on Tuesday set President Ashraf Ghani a three-day deadline to issue his decree reinstating their oversight right, otherwise they would launch a protest movement.

mds/ma

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