MAIDAN SHAHR (Pajhwok): The provincial council of central Maidan Wardak also announced closing its office in protest against the Wolesi Jirga decision barring them from overseeing local departments, an official said on Sunday.
The lower house decided last week provincial councils did not reserve the right to supervise or evaluate the performance of local departments. A day earlier, 17 PCs closed their offices in protest.
Sharifullah, the secretary of provincial council, told Pajhwok Afghan News that the evaluation of local governance was the primary responsibility of the council members.
He demanded the president not to approve the law preventing them from supervising the local governance.
“Our protest will continue until the law is amended in provincial councils’ favour,” Sharifullah said, adding if the president wants to eliminate corruption in local government then the councils should be granted the right to oversee the local departments.
Provincial councils in 22 provinces have so far closed their offices in protest to the lower house decision.
However, the Independent Directorate of Local Governance (IDLG) based on a presidential decree, today confirmed starting work on draft amendments to the law on provincial councils’ role.
mds/rm