MPs demand direct talks between ministries and citizens

TDT | Manama

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Ministers should face citizens in regular public meetings to thrash out grievances over state services, MPs have demanded.

The plan, put forward by MP Basema Mubarak and four colleagues, calls for ministries to meet the public at fixed intervals, work with parliament and deal with complaints within clear deadlines.

An online portal would take complaints and ideas before each session, leaving meeting time for cases that remain unsolved and the steps needed to put them right. Talks could take place in person or online.

Ministers would also meet every three months to check what had been done.

The MPs said the gulf between citizens and government departments had grown too wide, while public needs were rising faster than many services could cope. Direct talks, they argued, would cut repeated work, speed up decisions and curb the use of stock replies that bore little link to life on the ground.

They said civil servants would gain a clearer grasp of the problems facing the public and be better placed to give workable answers, rather than desk-bound replies far removed from the facts.

Each meeting would be recorded and its findings made public. Citizens could then see what ministries had promised, what action had followed and what remained undone.

The online portal would also build a store of complaints and ideas, helping the government spot repeated failings and shape later policy.

Quarterly meetings between ministers would link public complaints to the government’s main goals and put regular checks on what ministries had delivered.