Undersecretary of the Ministry of Local Government, Abdul Bari Shinbaru claimed during a televised interview for Libyan WTV channel and Tabadul Platform that the provinces are an inherent jurisdiction of the GNA’s House of Representatives (HoR), and consequently, the Government of National Accord will not be able to carry on any division in the name of the provinces because it falls under the prerogatives of the legislative power.
“With regard to what Libya has been going through, we must move more quickly to decentralization.” said Shinbaru.
“The act N. 59 is explicit and gives flexibility in that municipalities have the right to exercise these powers. We have been tied up by this law as it implicates huge problems.” he added.
“The 10 percent is no longer usable, and the Act N.59 no longer meets the purpose of assessing the institutional performance of municipalities, but we can go beyond this by applying a regime of transparency and designing a portal where all decisions would be monitored.” the Undersecretary stressed.
He also confirmed that the ministry is about to launch a Web-based Transparency Portal in partnership with Al-Madar company, so that all citizens and decision-makers can consult any municipality.
As far as the revenues are concerned, Shinbaru called for breaking free from financing local projects, confirming that it is necessary that the municipality announces the citizen’s needs and negotiates with the central authority about the needed budgets.