By Sami Zaptia:
London, 15 March 2018:
A meeting of Libya’s Municipality and Local Council leaders will be held in Tripoli from 17-19 March, organizers confirmed to Libya Herald.
The meeting will build on the earlier gatherings in Tunis and Shahat. Organizers say they expect about 120 Municipality and Local Council leaders to attend and expect those from the east to ignore any objections to them attending the event in Tripoli as many from the west had attended the Shahat meeting.
The role of Municipalities and Local Councils has been deemed as an important one in view of the weakness of both the central government in the west and east and in view of the de facto devolution of power to the regions. However, in practice, regional powers have been unable to gain full traction in taking the lead in initiating policy that improves their locality’s standard of living.
Equally, there is tension between the Municipalities and local councils and the central state Ministry of Local Government over the exact demarcation of their respective jurisdiction and power.
