SIX HAIL MUNICIPAL COUNCIL MEMBERS OFFER

C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 02 RIYADH 000799 SIPDIS E.O. 12958: DECL: 05/21/2018 TAGS: KDEM PGOV PREL SA SUBJECT: SIX HAIL MUNICIPAL COUNCIL MEMBERS OFFER RESIGNATION REF: 08 RIYADH 00791 Classified By: Consul General John Kincannon for reasons 1.4 (b) and (d ) ¶1. (U) On May 11, 2008, six members of the Hail municipal council presented their resignations to the President of the Hail City Municipal Council, Abd al-Aziz Ibrahim al-Toub. Citing a lack of progress in council performance, the members left two options for Minister of Municipal and Rural Affairs Prince Miteb bin Abdulaziz: empower the municipal councils with their proper authority or accept the members' resignations. The resigning members were particularly frustrated by what they viewed as underhanded municipality tactics, for example giving the councilmen little or no time to consider budgets, not properly presenting legal aspects of proposals, withholding municipal information from councilmen, and not acting in good faith to implement council resolutions. ¶2. (C) COMMENT: The charges follow very closely in both content and tone the complaints voiced by the four opposition councilmen of the Dammam Municipal council (reftel). In their May 11 editions, Saudi daily newspapers "Okaz" and "al-Shams" noted this similarity, reporting that the Hail council actions seemed to mirror those of Dammam, with Hail members taking the next step by actually offering their resignations. This matches what Dammam opposition council members have told post, insisting that their frustrations are shared by councils throughout the Kingdom and that their actions would bring similar movement in other councils. But while the Dammam opposition council members are intent to portray this as a critical moment of decision in the SAG's overall municipal council policy, Dammam council member Aref al-Ashban views things in a less severe light. On May 3, al-Ashban, who is not part of the Dammam opposition, told post that he believes Prince Mansour bin Miteb will allow both the Dammam and Hail cases to progress on their own accord, forcing the councilmen to come to some resolution, the councils maturing without intervention by the central government. (NOTE: Although Mansour is Deputy Minister of Municipal and Rural Affairs, he is the ministry's de facto day-to-day leader. END NOTE) END COMMENT. -------------- -------------- Translation of Hail Councilmen's Resignation Letter -------------- -------------- ¶3. (SBU) KINGDOM OF SAUDI ARABIA MINISTRY OF MUNICIPAL AND RURAL AFFAIRS Hail Municipal Council President of Hail City Municipal Council May peace and God's blessings be upon you. We refer to the executive bylaws on Municipal Councils as decreed in Resolution No. 66866, Paragraph Two, Section One, dated 12/11/1426 AH, which states, "In a municipality, municipal councils shall assume authority and exercise the authority of reports and oversight." The office of the mayor has prevented us from fulfilling our responsibilities. It is our deep interest to see this trust that has been bestowed upon us fully fulfilled. Unfortunately, budgets have been referred without being presented to the Council, and, if presented, the Council was given insufficient or no time at all to study them, which sometimes was limited to a mere day. In other cases, the legal aspects and implications were missing. We feel the Council has made no progress in its performance; required information has been withheld from its members and, in the case of Council resolutions that were passed, there were no serious efforts to implement them. We can identify the weak points if there is anyone with a desire to elevate work standards to a point where they would meet the objectives of the government of the Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques through His Highness the Minister of Municipal and Rural Affairs. We are firm believers in the importance of municipal councils and it's our wish and desire they succeed in achieving the objectives for which they have been established. However, in light of the spurious obstacles we face, we, the undersigned, hereby state that it is our desire to discontinue our work in the Council. We shall suspend our participation in Council deliberations starting from meeting No. 46, scheduled for Sunday, 6/5/1429 AH (May 11, 2008). RIYADH 00000799 002 OF 002 We ask that our request be forwarded to the Minister who may hopefully activate the role of municipal councils or, given the present circumstances, accept our resignation. Signatories: Hail City Council members: Hitash Hedhairi al-Hamzani; Saud Abdullah al-Tamami; Odai Saeed al-Hamzani; Abd al-Aziz Fahd al-Mash'hour; Abd al-Aziz Mohammad al-Ateeq; and Abdullah Sulaiman al-Mutliq. (APPROVED: KINCANNON) FRAKER