JEDDAH, 28 December 2005 — Municipal councils throughout the Kingdom have chosen their leadership and are preparing for their 2006 sessions.
In Jeddah yesterday, council members met to elect their president and vice president. They also outlined the issues they intend to tackle when they convene on Jan. 24 for their first meeting.
Rabah Al-Daheri won the position of municipal president by two votes against Tariq Fada’q, who has become the council’s vice-president.
Daheri, the head of the electrical engineering department at King Abdul Aziz University (KAAU), was one of the elected members of the council while Fada’q, KAAU associate professor and a newspaper columnist, was one of the council’s appointees.
Municipal councils, as well as elections to them, are a new phenomenon in Saudi Arabia. Half of Jeddah’s 14 municipal council members were elected while the rest were appointed. As Jeddah’s mayor, Adel Faqeeh is automatically on the council. He was nominated yesterday for the presidency, but he declined the invitation citing a conflict of interest with his duties as mayor.
Municipal Council President Daheri told Arab News after he was elected that the main task of the council could be summarized in two words — reporting and monitoring.
The president’s responsibility, said Daheri, would be to set a clear agenda for tackling some of the city’s long-standing problems, as agreed upon by all members. When asked by Arab News if the meetings would be open to the public, Daheri answered indirectly by saying that the decision was beyond the control of the council, but that it would surely let the press know of the happenings and the issues that were raised in each meeting.
Daheri said he has asked all council members to come up with three immediate priorities. His own priorities are problems with residential zoning, trash in the streets and the lack of public parks. He also advocated an automated system for issuing permits in order to expedite requests.
He stressed the point that the council will surely consider all issues raised by citizens and the media. “The press reflects what society is going through, so we will surely monitor every issue raised in the press, and maybe we will bring up some issues that might slip their attention,” said Daheri.
Councils throughout the Kingdom are in the process of selecting their leaders and setting out their own agendas considering local needs. Riyadh, Madina, Qatif, Abqeeq, Hail, Makkah and Qunfudah have already elected their council leaders.
