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By Libya Herald reporter.
Benghazi, 24 March 2016:
Municipal councillors in Marj, the operations base for General Khalifa Hafter, been told by the . . .[restrict]interim government in Beida to go back to work after a break of some three months. They have also been told by local government minister Mohammed Faruq Al-Mahdi to accept the oldest of their number as interim mayor until a new one is elected.
At the end of last year, he sacked Massoud Adam Omar as mayor amid council infighting and allegations of mismanagement. The council has effectively been non-operational since then.
The councillors were supposed to elect a replacement last Sunday and start work again, but in the event failed to do so.
The minister has now again intervened issuing his order to the councillors to carry out their duties under their oldest colleague.
Both the sacking and the latest decision have, however, been condemned as illegal and undemocratic by a local government expert in Libya. “Under the local government law, a mayor can only be removed by his fellow councillors or by a court,” he said. “There is no understanding of the concept of elections”, he added. “This is not a civil servant. He is an elected representative.” [/restrict]
