On May 17, elections were conducted to elect the mayor of the capital and governors for other 20 provinces. These elections were debated for long and it was boycotted by Joint Meeting Parties.

According to observers, these elections have helped bring new faces after old governors spent quite a long period of time in post.

They stress that it was a step forward and an introduction to local governance with wide authorities regardless of the shortcomings that will accompany such a development in its beginning stages.

However, it was necessary to seek the opinion of someone who assumed the post of governor to know closely the nature of developments achieved so far, and how this progress can benefit the democratic process in the country.

Yemen Post reporter met early this week Taha Abdullah Hajar who has been involved with local governance and cooperative authorities since 1986. He had assumed the post of Amran province. Later, he was appointed Hadramout governor, one of the richest provinces of Yemen.

Though viewed to be defective, Hajar stresses that governors elections have been a good experience irrespective of the shortcomings that might accompany such a move, maintaining those who opposed it have had no clear vision of it especially when they are not been involved in the work of local councils.

In the past, local councils, elected for the first time in 2001, used to work separately and their role was not clear as the nature of relation linking the local councils with executive councils was blurry.

However, the case changed later as councils started to form what it is known as coordinating councils whose tasks include preparing for regular meetings and supervising the different aspects of work in their areas.

According to the new law of local governance, the secretary generals of local councils are supposed to take over the roles of governors at their absence.

The same applies to districts where the secretary generals of districts can take over the tasks of the district's chief. The new law also allows the local councils to form administrative committees whose main tasks include preparing for the regular and exceptional meetings involving the members of the local authority.

Other tasks include controlling the work of executive offices, following up their performance, preparing tenders, setting the investment programs, holding officials into account under work negligence or corruption and setting the different plans. They also have the right to appoint the executive offices officials.

As for performance, Hajar pointed out that there had been disparity in the performance of the local council at the level of governorates and at the level of districts within the same province, maintaining it is hard for those not having adequate knowledge of local governance to give a just evaluation of it.

He went on to say that there was no conflict in the past between the local councils and governors; instead governors were playing the role of the local council heads.

In this respect, he assured that governors elections was a step forward and it came in translation of President Saleh's electoral platform that called for local governance with wide authorities.

When asked about the challenges and difficulties the new governors might face, Hajar stressed that there are no difficulties at all. The difficult matter for a new governor or official is how to overcome the beginning stages which are a bit difficult, hinting problems at the beginning can be overcome with hard work, determination and not giving hasty judgments. 

Speaking about the experience of electing local councils, Hajar mentioned that there should be a constant evaluation for the positive and negative points wherein negative things can be restricted and positive aspects are further developed.

Regarding the elections of Hadramout governor, Hajar revealed that elections were conducted in a democratic and fair way. He added that the elected governor Salim Al-Khanbashi received  over two-thirds, about 470 votes out of 630 members.

Hajar also noted that he noticed a wide difference between Amran and Hadramout as the former has a tribal society and the latter has a civil society; however, the common thing about citizens in both provinces was their interest in improving the situation in their provinces.

Having a long experience as governor, Hajar advised all governors to keep their doors always open before citizens and to delegate responsibilities to the local council members.