Council clash seven defiant

By MOHAMMED AL A'ALI
MANAMA Municipal Council members yesterday clashed with their chairman, who is insisting that they stay in their cramped council headquarters.
The seven councillors want to move to other premises because four of them are stuck in one office, while three are without desks, more than a month after being elected.
Chairman Majeed Millad Al Jazeeri has ordered partitions to be installed in the meeting hall, so the three remaining councillors can use the space as offices.
Council technical committee chairman Al Wefaq's Abdulmajeed Al Sebea'a is already refusing to use the council headquarters, saying there is no room for him.
He is operating out of his original office as an engineer in a major engineering consulting firm and will soon rent his own office for council work.
Mr Al Sebea'a is attending general-secretariat, council and committee meetings at the council headquarters, and then going back to his original workplace.
The chairman and his secretary and the secretary-general have their own separate offices in the council premises.
There are two offices for clerks and one office with four tables, divided amongst the seven remaining councillors.
The council and the Municipalities and Agriculture Ministry are in one premises and the Manama Municipality is in an adjacent building.
Council services committee chairman Hameed Al Basri, who has his own desk, said he could not wait to move away from the place.
"I am fed up. Since coming here last month, I have felt I am inside a jail," he said. "Now, the chairman wants to move us all (seven councillors) to the meeting hall, to empty the room we are in, so it can be used by employees, who are also packed in offices.
"There are offices for council employees already set up in the meeting hall, which is also being used by the ministry for meetings, and it is very noisy since it has two doors, and people pass through it all the time.
Members of the general-secretariat office yesterday voted unanimously to move out, despite rejections from the chairman and secretary-general Jassim Redha.
The general-secretariat office comprises the chairman, vice-chairman, four committees' chairmen and the secretary-general.
Mr Al Sebea'a said councillors were unhappy with the way things were being managed in the council.
"I am the only committee chairman with no desk, since the four available tables are being occupied by the three other committee chairmen and the council vice-chairman," he said.
"All of us want to move and we will push for it, even if it means that the ministry takes over the place.
"Moving into another building will ensure we can organise our staff, hire more and ensure an office for every two councillors.
"Even if it is far away from the heart of Manama, the most important thing is our peace of mind and the ability to do our work without any hustle and bustle."
Mr Al Sebea'a said former Municipalities and Agriculture Minister and current Shura Council chairman Ali Saleh Al Saleh had agreed to give the council the ground floor of the building, which was later tendered for renovation.
But he said this has been stopped by the new Minister Mansoor Bin Rajab.
"I don't know the reason behind this decision, but the ministry is using a building that's not theirs in the first place, since the building has been the property of Manama Municipality since 1919, when it was first formed," said Mr Al Sebea'a.
"The ministry has no premises, considering that its building should be provided by the Finance Ministry and from what I know there is none allotted for it.
"It has taken over the municipality building and it should leave and find somewhere else."
Mr Al Jazeeri said the ministry was waiting for them to give up the place.
"Former council chairman Murthada Bader had been fighting for us to stay in this historical building over the past four years and we managed to achieve a lot, with nine councillors packed in one office and the chairman having his own," he said.
"The ministry wants us to leave so it can occupy the place, because it too is desperate to expand.
"I believe the current premises is strategic as it is located in line with the ministry and the municipality.
"If we leave, we would be far away, which means instead of visiting officials' offices nearby, we would have to take a long drive."
Mr Redha said moving out would be inconvenient. "It means we would need to employ drivers and more employees, considering we would have more duties," he said.
"We are now depending on municipality employees to do some of our jobs, so if we move, we would face difficulties.
"The place we are in is strategic because the officials we need are on hand but if we move to Juffair or Umm Al Hassam, it will take us more time."
Mr Redha said it was still unknown why the refurbishment plan for their premises had stopped, although approved by the previous minister.
"It would just cost BD20,000 and our premises would become like that of the ministry," he said.
"The part we are in is old and crumbling, while the part the ministry is in looks amazing, because it is renovated every year.
"If the place is given the attention it needs, then we would not need to move, since the ground floor too would be given to us, which is currently unused." Councillors Sadiq Rahma and Khamees Al Rumaihi are the others without desks.