A LEADING councillor is calling for clarification over municipal boundaries in a bid to expand the number of places members are able to actively participate in online meetings.
Southern Municipal Council chairman Bader Al Tamimi said he was planning to contest the definition of municipal boundaries with the Legalisation and Legal Opinion Commission.
“The 2001 Municipal Law mentions municipal boundaries but without clarifying if it is individual governorates or the whole of Bahrain. I want a ruling from the commission on this.
“The explanation of boundaries makes a huge difference as most main government buildings are in the Capital Governorate. So should our municipal councillors have a scheduled meeting at the Housing Ministry in the Diplomatic Area and as they wait, I could hold a council meeting remotely with them, provided a wider field is allowed by law.”
Mr Al Tamimi has also asked the commission to validate if meetings within Bahrain’s embassies or the headquarters of diplomatic missions were considered as government buildings on ‘home soil’, if remote meetings abroad have been overruled.
Remote municipal meetings from individual homes within the governorate have been given the green light following several requests by Bahrain’s three municipal councils and the Capital Trustees Board following the outbreak of the Covid-19 pandemic in February last year.
Works, Municipalities Affairs and Urban Planning Minister Essam Khalaf had agreed in June last year to allow meetings to be held virtually – but from inside offices in their headquarters.
Under the latest decision issued this week, members of the councils and the board who are forced to remain under isolation can take part in meetings from home since they are still considered being within municipal boundaries.
Again, Mr Al Tamimi wants clarification. “What if a councillor decides to go to a relative’s home for isolation and connects from there? Will I know what ‘home’ it is and if it falls within our governorate?”
Northern Municipal Council chairman Ahmed Al Kooheji was happy with the minister’s approach, saying that expanding rules over online participation was unnecessary.
“We have to be thankful that we can now meet from home after moving around from building to building, schools and clubs.
“When we were told to conduct our meetings online from our offices, the building was often too crowded, so attending meetings from home is the best way forward, even when Covid-19 is over.”
&uuid=(email))