Local Elections Delirium 2/2 [Archives:2001/05/Focus]
COMMON SENSE
By: Hassan Al-Haifi
“All right everybody take your seats, the choice of the people has arrived”, yelled Tawfiq as he escorted Salah into the diwan of Tawfiq’s house.
Salah was amazed at the large gathering Tawfiq had managed to put together: “I did not think that the upcoming Local Council Elections would create such a fuss”.
“Can’t you see how everyone is excited that you have accepted to attend the meeting” said Tawfiq as both men walked up to the top of the modestly long diwan, when compared to the diwans of more wealthy citizens.
Tawfiq commented to the gathering: “Twenty years ago this was the biggest diwan in the city of Sana’a, now it is a second rate qat session room. However, we remain simple in outlook in the old city of Sana’a. We want to make sure that this simplicity carries on for the next generations to come on. We not only have to preserve our buildings, there is a lot of culture in here that must be saved, otherwise centuries of cultural and civic upbringing will go down the drain and the plastic culture of the Diplomatic Quarter of the city will take away the breath of life out of the city. Here is the man who knows Sana’a and its traditions and he is the only I know who can uphold the traditional values of the city and echo our concerns.”
“Wait a second there Tawfiq, I only accepted to attend your meeting; I have not said that I accept your nomination. I am truly honored and grateful for considering me as your candidate. However, you are really asking me to make a big leap from my normal trouble-free life. I believe as my father always said, ‘the doorway to trouble is found by getting into politics. To keep trouble as far away as possible, you have to stay out of politics'”. Salah reiterated his hesitation about being drawn into the game of politics.
Yet, Tawfiq did not fully register Salah’s last apprehensions: “All right folks, here is the man to represent our neighborhood in the District Local Council. I just can’t think of any better nominee. All of you are aware how much searching we have done amongst our fellow citizens for that right candidate, who will become our voice in Government. It is about time that the local authorities are activated and only people like Salah can give us a glimmer of hope that this whole affair will not turn out to be a meaningless flop like the national democratic strides.”
A friend of Tawfiq suggested: “Look, let us convince our friend here that we are not accepting no for an answer to our call”. Turning towards Salah he continued: “Salah, when public duty calls on you there is just no grounds for second thoughts”.
Salah was somewhat embarrassed: “Thank you very much Fawzi, but I am not sure that I am the right man to meet your expectations. I have little experience in political positions or the experience to take on the more experienced political muscle that are bound to be confronted as issues come before the Local Council. Moreover, I am not quite sure that the Local Councils can deliver much in the wake of the Local Administration Law and the new amendments to the Constitution. I am not convinced that decentralization has truly been entered into our political set up. Somehow there is something missing”.
Tawfiq took the floor: “What did I tell you people, Salah may be reserved at times, but for sure, he understands the inner intricacies of the society that most people tend to ignore”. He continued, while turning towards his friend, next to him: “You see Salah, that is why you are needed for the job. We want you to be our voice, who can prove that the proper legislative framework is still missing for real local rule and government. If all the local councils managed to have one or two members who could speak their minds constructively as you can, surely some sense is bound to reach the worshippers of centralized Government, that have turned government into a monstrous do-nothing bureaucracy. You will have substantial support at the grass roots level and you can always count on them for support. I know you very well. How can we forget how you were able to turn our secondary school Parents and Teachers Association into the most active and effective citizen’s lobby. That turned our school into a model school, and its students achieved the highest grades. All your fellow students remember that it was Salah who was the guiding spirit that made his father move the other parents and even the teachers into constructive criticism and action to upgrade our school significantly. Your father was the one who insisted that the administrators and the teachers of the school should be accountable to the PTA. Any complaint signed by five parents and or teachers against the school official or teacher would subject the latter to a hearing and possible dismissal. Yes, there is no question about it, you have a knack for behind the scenes maneuvering. We believe that this qualification will be handy in the kind of obstacles that truly sincere and serious LC members are bound to face”.
A pessimist in the meeting aired his views: “The Local Council is not the school PTA and there is considerable money involved. In addition Government now is not what it was 15 years ago, both in size and in complexity. Salah would be one out of twenty members. The Government will have considerable influence on quite a lot of them. Salah will have to cultivate a lot of political muscle to outdo these guys. I am not quite sure, he or anyone else for that matter will be allowed to nurture such support.”Tawfiq was ready with the response, but first threw a twig of qat to the pessimist: “Look, Abdullah, if Salah has trouble inside the machine, he can always count on us to support him, by maneuvering subtly to activate us behind him through using all the legal means at our disposal to let the Government know that Salah’s ideas and views are shared by quite a lot of people. On the other hand, the Government just can’t own everyone, the LC members are not going to be paid from the Central Government, if they are going to be paid at all. In addition, they have a right to make public officials accountable to them in their jurisdiction. This is the first time that even the idea of accountability has been given some procedural consideration. Salah understands how to use such minor powers to the maximum benefit of the constituency”.
Salah cut in: “In all fairness to Tawfiq, many of those PTA ideas came from him. He knew his parents were not able to make them move in the PTA, so his wisdom got him to coax me to get my parents involved, since he knew my father, God bless his soul, was outspoken and convincing when he wanted to be so. I insist that it is Tawfiq who is the more qualified for the position than yours truly. In all fairness to all of you and the people of Sana’a, I say it is Tawfiq who should be the subject of your attention here and not I, although I am honored by your consideration.”Fawzi was quickly interested in Salah’s nomination of Tawfiq: “I agree with Salah that Tawfiq is indeed highly qualified and more interested than Salah is for the position. There is no question about Tawfiq’s political acumen. Had it not been for all the finagling with the Parliamentary Elections in the last round, Tawfiq would have been in Parliament acting as our representative. There was no doubt that he was going to win, but he was literally forced to withdraw his nomination at the last minute, because the Government had wanted the deadmeat we now have in Parliament there to represent us. To this day, I have never seen the guy’s face on the televised sessions of Parliament and I have never seen him anywhere in the District, let alone in the neighborhood. I say we should give Tawfiq another go at it. Perhaps the addicts of tight centralized government will not worry about Tawfiq being far away from the capital city”. With Tawfiq as our choice, we will give the big parties the message, that when it is local, we want the decision to be ours. We are tired of your failures and your contempt for our interests and concerns”Abdu added: “We know that democracy is still a long shot from being a fact of life here in Yemen, but at the local level, we want to see as much of it as possible. We are behind you Tawfiq, and let us see how far we can go. Let us pray that it shall be forward. When the machine is awesome and aloof from the will of the public, prayers are bound to be called for to solicit God’s mercy on the people of Yemen. After all God’s mercy is more accessible than that of our autocratic Government”. Amen.
——
[archive-e:05-v:2001-y:2001-d:2001-01-29-p:./2001/iss05/focus.htm]
