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MPs for immediate removal of Kabul mayor

MPs for immediate removal of Kabul mayor

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16 Jan 2014 - 21:10
MPs for immediate removal of Kabul mayor
author avatar
16 Jan 2014 - 21:10

KABUL members on Thursday accused the Kabul mayor of his involvement in land-grabs and issuing fake property documents, calling for his immediate removal.

The lawmakers were speaking at a gathering attended by more than 200 people in Kabul.

The MPs claimed Kabul Mayor Muhammad Yunus Nawandish had allowed some commercial and other buildings to be constructed up to 15 floors against the permitted five floors.

Ihsanullah Sahibzada, a lawmaker from Kabul, said the mayor had allotted a piece of land to some individuals through fake documents in violation of the master plan.

He said the land, stretching from the Polytechnic Square to Shadab Zafar residential apartments, had been sold by its owners in 1976.

He said some residential blocks had been completed and allotted to people and others being constructed on the land.

The lawmaker also alleged corruption in contracts the municipality had awarded to builders, saying the second and the ninth municipality districts’ buildings cost 22 million afghanis and 93 million afghanis respectively, but the structures had no difference.

Abdul Qadir Watandost, another MP, claiming lack of transparency in awarding contracts by the municipality, said they had received more than a hundred complaints against the municipality.

He said the issue was later raised at the parliament and finally it was decided a parliamentary delegation should monitor the municipality’s activities.

During the monitoring process, the MP said the delegation obtained some documents showing corruption had been committed by the mayor and his team.

He said if complaints of Kabul residents were not addressed, they would erect a protest camp until the mayor was removed.

“We don’t want the corrupt mayor and his team to continue,” another Wolesi Jirga member, Mohammad Hashim Mehdawi, said.

Kabul Municipality spokesman Abdul Qadir Arizo refused to comment on the allegations when Pajhwok Afghan News contacted him over the telephone. However, he said the mayor was in India.

Earlier this month, the Wolesi Jirga’s communications commission accused the mayor of his involvement in corruption and land grabs. The house then decided to summon him.

At the time, Arizo had rejected the allegations and said the mayor was ready to appear before the house and respond to the allegations.

He had said the allegations were leveled against the mayor after he warned legal action against owners of some towering buildings over misusing parks in the city.

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