Proposal seeks to limit councillors to own constituencies

TDT | Manama

Email: mail@newsofbahrain.com

A proposal to stop municipal councillors from pitching ideas outside their own constituencies has been submitted by Northern Municipal Council member Zainab Al Durazi.

She wants to amend the council’s internal rulebook so that members may only raise issues linked to the neighbourhoods they were elected to represent.

The current rules allow councillors to float suggestions affecting any part of the governorate.

Her version would limit proposals to “general matters connected to the core interests of citizens within the boundaries of the constituency the member represents, and within the council’s remit”.

Al Durazi said the change is intended to bring about a fairer distribution of effort, giving each area its due rather than having councillors leapfrogging into districts that are not their concern.

Focus

She added that drawing a line around each member’s scope would help avoid overlap and friction, as well as sharpen focus.

According to her, this would lead to proposals that are more in step with what residents actually want.

The proposal, she said, would also encourage people to deal with their local councillor directly.

That, in her view, would strengthen local ties and lead to better-grounded decisions, since councillors tend to have a firmer grip on the troubles and needs of their own patch.