A BAN has been imposed on charity collection boxes that have been mushrooming on street corners across Bahrain.
The Labour and Social Development Ministry has ordered registered charitable societies to stop setting up the boxes without permission from the Works, Municipalities Affairs and Urban Planning Ministry.
The Capital Trustees Authority and Bahrain’s three municipalities – Northern, Southern and Muharraq – earlier allocated specific sites for the charity boxes but due to the unorganised and chaotic way they have been set up on roadsides and near shops and homes, they have now stopped issuing permits.
However, Labour and Social Development Ministry Under-Secretary Sabah Al Dossary told the GDN yesterday that they were working on regulating the practice.
“We want to help charities set up boxes, especially since it is high season with Ramadan and Eid Al Fitr a month away, but when these boxes contribute to eyesores, fatal accidents, fights and chaos, we have to impose a ban,” he said.
“The boxes will be restricted to society headquarters or shopping complexes that agree.
“We have directed charities to ask the municipalities for permission to set boxes in other locations, but they have refused and we can’t force them since they are concerned with public property.”
Mr Al Dossary said the municipalities were also concerned about potential fraud as conmen set up boxes for illegitimate purposes.
“Some people would even set up the same boxes of known charities and then sell what is donated,” he explained.
“There are hundreds of boxes and monitoring them, by us or the municipalities, is very difficult, knowing there are also people with bad intentions.
“At the moment they are in the middle of the road, in front of shops and anywhere charities decide to put them without any authorisation.”
He added that the ministry planned to work with MPs to draw up legislation organising the establishment of charity boxes in the country.
“There has to be a specific law dealing with this and we are willing to work with parliament on it in the future,” he said.
“It is now left to the municipalities to allow the boxes to be set up in locations other than those specified by us – we will issue papers stating legitimacy, but it is their call.”
Decision
However, Southern Municipal Council chairman Ahmed Al Ansari, who discussed the issue at yesterday’s weekly council meeting, disagreed with the decision imposed by the municipalities – adding that registered charities should be allowed to collect clothes and donations without any limitations.
“Charities ask for locations, to set up boxes, from the municipalities but are turned away because they want a dated permit for the specific charity, agreement that the box would be removed in the end, and that they would stay in the place and not mushroom,” he said.
“Just allow societies to collect clothes before Eid, I mean they are not cafeterias pretending to be societies.”
mohammed@gdn.com.bh
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