MSDIn the second dialogue symposium in Raqqa and the sixth at the level of north and east Syria, within a series of seminars held by the Syrian Democratic Council, it was witnessed a lot of criticism about the performance of the Self- Administration institutions and those in charge of them, in a step through which the Syrian Democratic Council seeks to develop self-administration and enhance community participation within the administration structure.
Participants doubt the usefulness of these seminars
The invitation directed by the Syrian Democratic Council to societal and political activities, sheikhs and dignitaries of Arab and Kurdish tribes and intellectuals; raised doubts among the former elites and the participation in the symposium about the usefulness and seriousness of SDC and the Self- Administration in the transformation that they are about to take at political and administrative levels.
In light of this, “Ilham Ahmed”, the president of the executive committee of the Syrian Democratic Council, said that they are in SDC and the Self- Administration are in the process of developing the Self- Administration and enhancing community participation within the administration structure and its institutions. Therefore, we need all opinions, proposals and criticisms and they will be as recommendations for the conference of the people of al-Jazeera and al-Forat that will produce committees to follow up on these recommendations and implement them on the ground in accordance with a clear roadmap.
The administration’s need for expertise and technocrats
Among the interventions that have been repeated is the need of the Self- Administration for expertise and competencies and providing it with technocrats with specialization and professions, and to move away from favoritism and quota system, which has proven unsuccessful in the experiences of neighboring countries.
Laila Mustafa, the co-chair of the Civil Administration in Raqqa, added that Self-Administration is not an ideal situation and we are working to avoid mistakes and choose the right person, adding that the doors of the Self-Administration are always open to all experiences, competencies and certificates, and certainly your proposals for a mechanism to choose the right person in the right place will be presented in the conference and their implementation is going to be followed up.
The duality of poverty and corruption and the standard of transparency in the administration
The participants’ interventions intersected about the spread of corruption cases in the body of the Self- Administration, pointing to specific cases issued by some persons in the Self- Administration using their position to gain personal interests and others working to waste public money.
This was recorded by the office of the seminar to be investigated and submitted to the monitoring body, which was recently created for this purpose, and those who misuse the position and responsibility will be held accountable.
One of the participants pointed out the lack of transparency in the joints of the Self- Administration of north and east Syria and that the resources and revenues of the Self-Administration, as well as the budget and disbursements of the administration are not exposed, and all of this, is done from one person to another in the absence of real institutions.
Al-Mahbash clarified the details of the financial administration, its resources and local sources of funding, as well as the number of its employees, the figures of disbursements, the cost of infrastructure restoration and construction projects. He added that the administration deals with complete transparency in regard to financial aspect and the budget was exposed to media.
In addition to observations and criticism directed to service, educational, security and health side, in which proposals and recommendations were made by the organizers of the symposium in order to be presented at the National Conference for the People of al-Jazeera and al-Forat.
The Syrian Democratic Council continues to follow up holding its seminars with societal, political and cultural activities, as six seminars have been held so far, and others are scheduled to be held in the regions of north and east Syria to come up with recommendations and proposals that contribute to strengthening the participation in the Self- Administration and preparing for a new phase.
