Pajhwok Afghan News (PAN) Weekly Election Coverage Newsletter, Feb.11-17

The article adds PC shall advise the provincial administrations on related issues and perform its duties in cooperation with the provincial administration.

PC members call off protest By: KHWAJA BASIR AHMAD ,Date: 2015-02-12

KABUL (Pajhwok): The provincial councils (PC) members and their supporters called off their protest on Thursday after assurances by the police chief that Hakimi vows tougher stand on corruption By: BASHIR AHMAD NADEM ,Date: 2015-02-12 their grievances would be brought into the notice of the authorities concerned. Abdul Rahman Rahimi assured the KANDAHAR CITY (Pajhwok): Finance Minister Eklil protesters that their legitimate demands would be Hakimi on Thursday said corruption was being committed in revenue collections through customs offices, but they conveyed to the authorities, said Sayyed Abdul Rahman, would do away with the problem with full force for the the provincial council chief of capital Kabul. sake of overcoming the budget deficit. Earlier in the day, enraged provincial council members Hakimi, who arrived in southern Kandahar province, held and their supporters blocked the road leading to the Hamid a joint meeting with Governor Tooryalai Weesa and several provincial department heads. Weesa said Kandahar Karzai International Airport to protest the Wolesi Jirga’s had always been allocated a meagre budget, which had decision. The lower house has amended on the law on often been delayed for a long period, calling it their major provincial councils, barring the elected bodies from issue. He claimed Kandahar received its budget when the fiscal evaluating the performance of local departments. year was about to end, thus their failure to properly utilise But President had said PC members should the allocations. The governor urged the visiting minister to supervise the performance of local bodies under a defined resolve the problems concerning the budget. framework. Despite this assurance from the head of the Kandahar Sectorial Head Hakimi also mentioned problems the province faced with regard to the budget. state, PC members and their supporters continued with He said work on key projects in the province had come to their protests against the lower house. On Thursday, they a halt since long and the contractors were yet to be made blocked the main airport road at 10:30am till 2:00pm. payments. The affected projects included Omar Jamia Mosque, a 16.5 km road from Kandahar City to Kandahar Sar-i-Pul PC head Mohammad Noor Rahmani said: “The Airfield and the construction of a 350-bed hospital, he protest will continue until the Wolesi Jirga reverses its explained. decision.” Article 139 of the Constitution says: “The The official said the previous cabinet had authorized first provincial council shall participate in the attainment of the grade provinces to plan and execute projects costing up to 40 million afghanis, but that decision had not been development objectives of the state and improvement of enforced. the affairs of the province in the manner prescribed by laws. http://www.pajhwok.com Page 1 http://www.elections.pajhwok.com/www.vote.af

Pajhwok Afghan News Election Coverage Newsletter

He said the current Kandahar Governor’s House, which is He said aid-giving countries had put limits on their housed in ancient Ahmad Shah Baba Fort, needed assistance and their condition was transparency in revenue renovation and half a million US dollars allocated for the collections. He said all problems would be resolved purpose could not be released so far. gradually. He said previously it had been decided that provinces could also participate in the budget’s preparation and on the basis of that decision, Kandahar planned to construct a big conference hall at a cost of one million US dollars, which did not reach the province and the project could not be initiated. He also complained contractors had not been made payments for ration supplies to the police headquarters this year and two years ago, with the pending amounts totaling 192 million Afghanis. Provincial Public Health Director Dr. Abdul Qayyum Pukhla again mentioned the under-construction 350-bed New governor links economic growth to security hospital. He said 20 percent work on the $9.2 project had By: PAJHWOK REPORTER ,Date: 2015-02-14 been completed, but the rest suspended due to a lack of FARAH CITY (Pajhwok): The newly appointed governor budget. Wolesi Jirga member from Kandahar Mullah Syed for western alleged that his predecessors Mohammad Akhund talked about electricity shortage that were not honest to develop the province and he promised to created problems for residents and investors. implement his economic and security plans for the His colleague Shakiba Hashmi said if the issue of prosperity of the masses. Mohammad Asif Nang, former corruption in customs offices was resolved, it would help acting minister for education, has been appointed new end the existing problems in the budget. governor for Farah province. In his exclusive interview Finance Minister Eklil Hakimi said he made his first visit with Pajhwok Afghan News, Nang said Farah was a to Kandahar after assuming office due to the province’s developed and strategically important region of strategic importance. He believed resolving problems in . But he regretted that the province had been Kandahar amounted to resolving problems in the entire left undeveloped and former governors did not work country. The minister asked the provincial government to honestly to ensure prosperity by introducing economic send an authorized delegation to Kabul so as to resolve reforms in the province. “I got through information about problems of Kandahar jointly with his ministry. Farah and found that former governors only wasted their Hamiki admitted customs offices were rife with time. My predessors did not work to usher an era of corruption, but they would fight the menace with full progress and prosperity in Farah, which shocked me,” Nang force, promising a serious of reforms in the sector. said without naming of the former governors. He said customs officials who had worked with sincerity He said properly utilize his time to introduce reforms and would be rewarded and those having committed plans for the progress, economic prosperity and corruption would be held accountable and removed. development of the province. People fight against The minister said currently 45 percent of the budget was government and grow poppy in Farah due to poverty and composed of revenues collected through customs joblessness, a problem that could be easily tackled if the departments and for the remaining budget, they stretched government generates job opportunities by implementing hands to foreign countries. development projects, Nang observed.

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Pajhwok Afghan News Election Coverage Newsletter

Ghani holds video conference with governors By: PAJHWOK REPORTER ,Date: 2015-02-14

JALALABAD (Pajhwok): President Mohammad Ashraf Ghani on Saturday held a video conference with governors of four eastern provinces and talked with them in details on issues concerning security, good governance and development. Ahmad Zia Abdulzai, the spokesman for the Nangarhar governor, told Pajhwok Afghan News that governors, police chiefs, and army officers from PC members seek reforms in Zabul admin Nangarhar, Laghman, Nuristan and Kunar took part in the By: PAJHWOK REPORTER ,Date: 2015-02-14 conference held in Shahi Palace. The officials presented their reports and grievances on several issues to the QALAT (Pajhwok): Members of the provincial council of president. Maulvi Attaullah Ludin, Nangarhar acting southern Zabul province on Saturday urged the governor, acknowledged corruption was rampant in Independent Directorate of Local Governance (IDLG) to Torkham port’s weight scale department and requested introduce reforms to the provincial administration. President Ghani to shut it down. He alleged 143 million afs They made the call at a meeting with IDLG policy and corruption took place there on a monthly basis. technical affairs deputy director, Farid Mamondzai, in He also asked the creation of an organ in Nangarhar for Qalat, the provincial capital, IDLG spokesman Tawab coordinating the operations of the security forces. Ghorzang told Pajhwok Afghan News. Ghani promised to look into their problems and directed the The meeting was attended by provincial council head Atta governors and some cabinet members on issues related to Jan and several members of the council, who stressed reforms in the eastern provinces. reforms in the education, judiciary, the attorney’s office, detection and security sectors of Zabul. Ghorzang said the PC members urged the IDLG official to share Zabul’s problems with the Presidential Palace. He said Mamonzai assured the PC members that the problems they mentioned would be shared with the authorities concerned. The IDLG official said giving attention to Zabul was the central government’s priority and urged the provincial council to cooperate with local departments. Angiza Shinwari succumbs to injuries in Kabul By: PAJHWOK REPORTER ,Date: 2015-02-16

JALALABAD (Pajhwok): Angiza Shinwari, the provincial council member for eastern Nangarhar province, who was seriously wounded in an explosion, succumbed to her injuries in a hospital in Kabul, an official said Monday. Her driver was killed while Shinwari and five high schoolchildren were wounded in a bomb blast in Jalalabad, the capital of Nangarhar province, last Wednesday.

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Pajhwok Afghan News Election Coverage Newsletter

Police had said the bomb was detonated when Shinwari Shinwari was seriously injured in a bomb blast attached to was passing through the city centre. her car in Jalalabad on Wednesday last. Her driver was Naveed Shinwari, cousin of the slain provincial council killed while Shinwari and five high schoolchildren were member, told Pajhwok Afghan News that she succumbed wounded the blast. Naveed Shinwari, a cousin of the slain to her injuries in Sardar Mohammad Daud Khan Hospital politician, said she succumbed to her injuries last night in last night at around 12: 00 am. “The doctors had to the Mohammad Duad Khan Hospital in Kabul at around amputate her both legs because of serious injuries in the 12am. The Presidential Palace issued a statement saying the explosion. She succumbed to her injuries last night as her president was saddened by Shinwari’s death and expressed second leg had to be cut late Sunday,” he said. his condolences to the bereaved family. Naveed Shinwari said that her first leg was severed three The Presidential Palace said Shinwari had served as a days ago. Her colleague Zabihullah Zamari confirmed her representative of Islamic Sciences and was an active death and said her funeral prayers would be held in supporter of women’s rights. She wrote poems, worked as Jalalabad city today afternoon. Earlier, a doctor at the journalist and had been serving her community as their Jalalabad Civil Hospital had said that Shinwari’s legs had representative in the Nangarhar provincial council, the to be amputated below the knees. Angiza Shinwari 33 was statement said. It said the Afghans would not forget the the resident of Shinwari district of Nangarhar province. services Shinwari had contributed to her people and she She was active civil society activist and journalist before would be regarded as a brave woman in Afghan women’s she elected to the provincial council. history. Dr. Abdullah and Atta Mohammad Noor, the The Independent Directorate of Local Governance (IDLG) acting governor of northern Balkh province, also expressed expressed condolences on Shinwari’s death. A statement their grief and sorrow over her death. from the IDLG said that her death was a great loss. The Nangarhar acting governor Maulvi Attaullah Lodin also statement stressed on security organs to bolster security of condoled with her family. Khost provincial council provincial officials. members condemned the bomb attack on the female representative and asked the government to investigate the incident. Khost PC head Amirullah Zara Swand told Pajhwok Afghan News that the ongoing violence in Afghanistan was aimed at weakening the Afghan government. Attacking people’s representatives would not solve problems, but create more challenges for the people, he said.

Angiza’s death saddens president, CEO By: JAVED HAMIM KAKAR ,Date: 2015-02-16

KABUL (Pajhwok) President Ashraf Ghani and Chief Executive Officer (CEO) Abdullah Abdullah on Monday expressed their grief and sorrow over the demise of a female Nangarhar provincial council member, Angiza Shinwari.

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