MUNICIPAL councillors and Capital Trustees Board members will start receiving their wages from the moment they are sworn in.
This was clarified as the Shura Council rejected parliamentary amendments to the 2001 Municipal Law that sought to provide monthly wages for the councillors from the day they are elected, or the board members from the day they are appointed.
MPs wanted these public representatives to be treated on par with members of Parliament and the Shura Council who start getting paid from the moment they are elected.
Newly-elected municipal councillors and newly-appointed board members do not start receiving their wages until they are sworn in.
During the upper legislative chamber’s weekly session yesterday, Shura Council chairman Ali Saleh Al Saleh said the outgoing public servants continue doing their job until the incoming members are sworn in.
“The wages are given for work done, so when those elected or appointed are not in office then how could they be paid?”
He also pointed out that post-election sometimes the results are contested in which case it would be unfair to start paying announced winners with immediate effect.
“In such cases, unless a court gives a decision it would be unfair to start paying wages immediately from the public coffers.”
Shura Council services committee chairwoman Dr Jihad Al Fadhel said that taking the 2018 Municipal Elections as a case in point, the maximum waiting time was 11 days from the end of second round of elections to the time the three councils and the board were sworn in.
Shura Council human rights committee chairman Ahmed Al Haddad said the issue was not about elections which were in doubt, but about the general practice of getting paid from the day the public representatives are elected or appointed.
“If the maximum waiting period is a few days then there should be no problem in getting paid from the day of the election,” he said.
Shaikh Adel Al Maawada said that it was unfair that those elected would be unpaid from the jobs they have left as well as the council, until they were sworn in.
“There have been previous incidents when members were sworn a month later.
“Those councillors are not getting paid from their original workplace and the council, while they have expenses to meet.”
Works, Municipalities Affairs and Urban Planning Minister Essam Khalaf said the current approach was fair and there was no need for any changes.
The issue will be now reviewed again by MPs.
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