By Umar Khan.
Tripoli, 17 July:
The chairman of the Tripoli Local Council (TLC), Abdur Razzak Abu Hajar, resigned on Sunday, citing personal . . .[restrict]reasons. Abu Hajar will be replaced by his deputy, Sadat El-Badri. A farewell event was held in in Tripoli on Sunday evening to honour the services of the former chairman.
The event was attended by around 250 guests including NTC members, ministers, senior security officials and members of civil society. Speaking at the event, Adnan El-Gherwi, head of the executive committee of the TLC, praised the former chairman for his efforts and the role he played during the revolution.
A video clip was also screened from the early days of the liberation of Tripoli; it included the announcement of the formation of the executive committee of the TLC and a short clip from the battle of the Bab Al-Aziziyah.
Some speeches were also made by the guests thanking Abu Hajar for leading the council in trying times. The former chairman then distributed the honorary certificates to the people who played a leading part in the formation and running of the council.
Abu Hajar was selected as the chairman of the TLC in April last year when the TLC was formed as an underground movement to resist the Qaddafi regime. There were rumours of his resignation after he was assaulted in December last year but he continued to work.
The TLC is a non-elected council being run in an emergency situation, by the members that formed it. A committee was announced in March this year that was to hold elections for the TLC in May but it was sacked by the council as it was not able to achieve its target. A new committee of 23 members was announced in June but it is yet to report any progress made by the committee so far.
According to Gherwi, the committee has not received any update so far from the committee and if there is ‘no news’ by the weekend, the TLC will take action. Asked whether the elections will be in line with the new local governance law that was passed recently, he said that it will be discussed with the committee as there is no point electing the council on old structure and then re-electing the council according to the new law. [/restrict]
