Councillors’ Bangkok vacation to be probed

The government will carry out an investigation into the unofficial and unscheduled vacation of some municipal councillors in Bangkok, following their official visit to Malaysia. The Ministry of Municipalities Affairs will look into the matter and question all those councillors who decided to take vacation in Thailand, following their official tour to Kuala Lumpur from March 4 to 10, the Undersecretary of the Ministry of Municipalities Affairs and Agriculture, Dr Juma Al Ka’abi told Bahrain Tribune yesterday.“The ministry will not be able to take any action until it investigates the matter. We cannot comment without knowing the reasons and I think we have to confirm things before be take further actions,” he said. Dr Al Ka’abi said that the Minister of Municipalities Affairs and Agriculture, Ali Saleh Al Saleh, did not know about the incident as he was out of the country.The delegation consisting of 23 members was headed by the Chairman of the Manama Municipal Council, Murtada Bader. It included members from all the five councils. Among the delegates were also two members from the Malaysian Gold Mark Company that organised the tour.Seven of the delegates arrived on Saturday, while the remaining 16 headed to Bangkok following the training tour to Kuala Lampur, to share the experience of Malaysian municipal councillors.Bader told the Tribune that the government paid BD1, 600 to each councillor to cover the expenses of the trip such as hotel accommodation, ticket, food and travel expenses.“Three of my councillors, Majeed Milad, Sadiq Rahma and Shamlan Al Shamlan, had informed me that they would go to Bangkok while the secretary of the Manama Council, Jassim Redha, and Northern councillor Juma Al Aswad stayed back in Malaysia. Redha could not come on time because of difficulties with his bookings. The General Director of Manama Municipality, Abdulkarim Hassan, and municipality staff Hussain Hassan returned immediately after the tour,” he said.“The councillors do not need any permission to travel to other places, but they must inform their councils. They have not applied for the leave and once they return then they will sort out their paper work.”Bader said that Manama council had a meeting in which these councillors were missing and some of the papers remained pending.