New draft reinstates PCs oversight role: Selab

KABUL (Pajhwok): Provincial council members on Monday said they had reached an agreement with the Independent Directorate of Local Governance (IDLG) on their oversight role.

On Jan 28, the lower house of parliament amended a provision of the law on provincial councils, barring the elected bodies from evaluating the performance of provincial departments.

Ghazni PC head and member of the provincial councils’ coordination commission, Khaliqdad Akbari told a press conference in Kabul their commission had reached an agreement with the IDLG over the oversight role of provincial councils.

“We and the IDLG have accepted 99 percent of the agreement, and the one percent which belongs to other government officials would be discussed tomorrow (Tuesday),” he told reporters flanked by several colleagues.

Kandahar PC member Syed Mohammad Selab, also a member of the coordination commission, said the new agreement reinstated their right to supervise the performance of local departments.

But he said they had decided not to reopen their offices until the new agreement was approved. The agreement would be sent to the parliament for approval.

Selab asked lawmakers to approve the new draft so that PC members could help the government prevent corruption in local departments.

A Wolesi Jirga member Mirdad Khan Najrabi said that PC members should have the right to oversee local government performance.

mds/ma

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