INSIDE THE SAUSAGE FACTORY - A VISIT TO THE BABIL PROVINCIAL

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SIPDIS

SIPDIS

E.O. 12958: DECL: 5/29/2017
TAGS: PGOV PREL KDEM SOCI IZ
SUBJECT: INSIDE THE SAUSAGE FACTORY - A VISIT TO THE BABIL PROVINCIAL
COUNCIL

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CLASSIFIED BY: Charles F. Hunter, Babil PRT Leader, REO
Al-Hillah, Department of State.
REASON: 1.4 (b),(d)




1. (C) Summary and comment: The Babil Provincial Council (PC)
meeting on May 29 provided an object lesson on the status of
representative governance in the province. While a handful of
voices spoke out about things on citizens' minds, such as power
shortages and long lines at gas stations, substantive business
mostly languished under extraneous detail, lack of parliamentary
procedure and personalization of issues. Still, the vibrant,
slightly chaotic discussion left no doubt that democracy is
setting down roots and its practitioners grappling - even
unconsciously - with fundamental principles of governance. End
comment and summary.


2. (SBU) PRT team leader and IPAO attended the first two hours
of the Babil PC meeting on May 29. After convening on time with
approximately two-thirds of its 40 members present (a few more
trickled in late),the council dispensed with a few routine
items of business involving charitable donations. Discussion
then turned to a less altruistic subject, the purchase of
vehicles for PC members. Though the head of the Analysis
Committee stated that the matter was being studied, council
members put forward their own proposals on whether to buy from
the local market, how long tenders should be advertised and what
to do about high repair costs of vehicles they already have.
The debate was inconclusive, with the chair simply saying at the
end that he would look into the matter.


3. (SBU) The chairman, Engineer Mohammed Ali Al-Masoudi, next
introduced a letter from the Supreme Reconstruction Council in
Baghdad asking the province to propose five projects, each worth
20 billion Iraqi dinars (approx. USD 15 million),for funding.
Over the objections of the Planning and Projects Committee
chairs, who pointed out that their committees had not yet been
consulted, the floor was thrown open for debate. Several ideas
emerged; one member voiced a widespread popular concern by
pleading that electrical projects be given top priority. The
group eventually agreed that any nominations would need to have
comprehensive plans attached and be selected according to
priorities. The PC chair asked committee heads to meet the next
day to discuss the subject and then to consult with local
councils in the province to develop a list of needs in the
service and health sectors.


4. (SBU) The morning's longest two discussions dealt with
whether to make PC sessions available to citizens on CD-ROM (and
open to direct TV coverage) and whether to change the name of
the province from "Babil" to "Hillah." Sandwiched in between
and taken up again later was the first actual agenda item, a cut
in the fuel allocation to bakeries. At various points during
the nearly hour-long CD debate, different members pointed out
that they were concerning themselves with "silly" issues rather
than important ones like the lines of cars snaking across the
city waiting to buy gas. Such an observation would sometimes
silence the group for a few moments before someone picked up the
thread of the frequently raucous discussion again. Ultimately
the name-change issue was set aside for consideration in the
future and the PC chair authorized the Media Committee chairman
to make CDs of council meetings available to citizens upon
request.


5. (C) The chairman asserted himself from time to time, raising
his voice over other speakers and reminding them of their
obligation to serve the people. Wielding an oversized gavel, he
occasionally threatened to expel those who refused to yield the
floor. For the most part, however, he slumped back in his chair
and allowed near-chaos to reign, with two and three members
trying to talk at the same time and no organized system for
recognizing someone to speak. More than once he
melodramatically made as if to leave, proclaiming that he would
simply quit if not accorded the respect he deserved. In a brief
meeting in his office as PRT officers were on their way out, he
smiled sadly and murmured an implicit apology for his
colleagues' lack of decorum.


6. (C) Comment: The two hours of debate we observed yielded few
concrete outcomes and unfortunately did not take up the subject
of budget execution and oversight, the importance of which PRT
team leader had reiterated a few days earlier to the PC chair,
his deputy and the deputy governor. In one sense the
undisciplined session summed up the main reasons for Babil's
mediocre performance in spending its money and implementing
projects over the past year. Pared down to its core, however,
the meeting in fact dealt with some of the fundamental topics a
representative body must concern itself with: transparency,
prioritizing resource allocations and responsiveness to the
public. The passionate, raw exchanges may have generated more

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heat than light today, but offered indubitable proof that
democracy is taking root in Babil.
HUNTER