By Jamal Adel.
Tripoli, 4 March 2014:
Officials in charge of security at Ghat Local Council have forced it to close, claiming it . . .[restrict]lacked integrity and transparency, council leader Abdel Gader Makhi has told the Libya Herald. Speaking in Tripoli yesterday, he added that security officials had also threatened its members, especially female ones.
The security guards had also complained in particular about a number of their members not being selected for training courses in Tripoli and elsewhere, claiming places had been distributed unfairly, Makhi said.
However, a senior security guard, Mohammed Abdel Gader, has denied taking such action — on Sunday — saying that the council was already closed. Nonetheless, he admitted the group was demanding order and accountability. A meeting with council employees had been demanded to discuss these problems, he told this newspaper by phone from Ghat. He also complained of what he described as inefficiency and poor council member attendance.
Meetings had also been called with local elders, revolutionaries and civil society leaders to discuss the issues, he added.
Makhi’s deputy, Ibrahim Mustafa, also speaking by phone from Ghat, concurred with Makhi. He said the current situation had arisen because security staff felt they were being passed over for much-coveted training schemes. The decision to intervene in council affairs was unacceptable, he said. It was not their concern. [/restrict]
