The 36th public GOFTEGU debate organised by Armanshahr Foundation entitled “Face to Face: What do Provincial Councils do? What do Citizens Want?” was held in Herat on 5th July 2009.
During the debate which lasted from 2-4 in the afternoon at the Allameh Saljuki Hall of Herat, the audience and experts examined and reviewed the work and performance of the Herat Provincial Council and also discussed the tasks of these councils in order to shed more light on their role.
The moderator of the meeting was Mr. Ahmad Nazir Raha, President of Young Intellectuals Society of Afghanistan, who introduced the topic. The speakers included: Mr. Asileddin Jami, Executive director of Herat Province, Dr. Abdolzahir Fayzzadeh, Deputy president of the Provincial Council of Herat, Alhadj Mohammad Rafiq Shahir, Rresident of Experts Council, Ms. Golsum Sadiqi, President of the Afghanistan Women Jurists Foundation and Dr. Hassan Farid, a political activist.
Mr. Shahir, who said he intended to examine the tasks of Provincial Councils from a juridical point of view, stated: “the task of the Provincial Council is to give advice to the governor and it is a part of the Executive power. The Executive power has found it necessary to have a popular body within the power structure in order to perform its tasks properly.”
Pointing out the distorted understanding of some people who think Provincial Councils are similar to parliament, he said: “It is a totally mistaken notion if some people think that state councils possess the same powers of the parliament.”
Mr. Abdolzahir Fayzzadeh, deputy president of the Provincial Council of Herat, referred to Article 109 of the Constitution, saying: “The Provincial Council offers advice to the government or the governor to help meet the development goals of the government and improve State affairs.” He also examined the powers of the Provincial Councils.
The third speaker, Dr. Hassan Farid, started by asking: “Has the Provincial Council performed the tasks assigned to it?” He further went on to discuss the weaknesses and points of strength of the Herat Provincial Council.
Mr. Asileddin Jami, Executive director of the Provincial Council of Herat, said: “Whereas I am speaking as the representative of the government in Herat, you should expect a difference between my speech and that of our other friends. The Herat Provincial Council has been facing problems and challenges in the past few years. There were occasional hurdles as well as achievements and we may refer to the role of the Provincial Council in its share of the development plan of the State of Herat, as well as its good role in establishing peace in certain districts (woloswali) of the State of Herat.”
Ms. Golsum Sadiqi, President of the Afghanistan Women Jurists Foundation pointed out that the people do not know how effective the Provincial Councilhas been in performing its various plans, saying: “In my opinion, this is a problem of the Provincial Council itself for failing to inform the people through the mass media and the news sources within Herat as to how it operates, what tasks it has and how effective its members can be in their allegedly important actions.”
In the second part of the debate, the speakers answered the questions asked by the moderator and finally they fielded questions from the audience. Most questions were directed at Mr. Fayzzadeh, Deputy President of the Provincial Councils.
“Face to Face: What do Provincial Councils do? What do Citizens Want?” was the second public debate organised by Armanshahr Foundation in Herat, where 130 students, civil servants, political activists, intellectuals and others took part. Representatives of some of the national and local media, e.g. Tolo TV, Ariana TV, Herat State TV, Taban TV, Sahar Radio and Kelid Radio covered the public debate.
