On Wednesday,11th of Sept. 2019, the Press House - Palestine organized a discussion meeting with the mayor of Gaza , Dr. Yahya Al-Sarraj, in order to get acquainted with the work of the municipality and the services provided to citizens and the problems and crises they are going through.
The meeting was attended by a number of male and female journalists, writers, activists and graduates of media colleges from the Palestinian universities in the Gaza Strip.
At the start of the meeting, the Director of Board of the Press House welcomed the attendees, stressing the importance of these meetings, which allow journalists to meet with officials to clarify and know the issues of concern to citizens.
In turn, the Mayor of Gaza spoke about the financial situation of the municipality and the value of its debts and the upcoming projects that it intends to implement during the coming period, noting that the value of the municipality's debts amounted to 220 to 250 million shekels, the majority of which are due to the employees and to the insurance and pension institution.
Al-Sarraj said that the Gaza Municipality pays 50% of the salaries of its 1,400 employees, pointing out that it can sometimes help a sick or with special needs employee from his dues.
According to Al-Sarraj, 120 million shekels of the Gaza Municipality's debts to the Insurance and Pensions Institute, noting that the municipality owed debts to citizens worth 750 million shekels, "If the population paid their debt, our balance will become half a billion shekels."
He added that the number of subscribers who receive the service from the municipality of Gaza amounted to more than 94 thousand, while those who are committed to pay from 9 to 11 thousand people only that forms 11 or 11.5%, explaining that "this is causing a large income deficit and pay salaries."
Al-Sarraj described the financial situation in the Gaza Strip as a "Difficult one" and the municipality is part of it, due to the current economic situation, trade, decreasing salaries, siege, lack of freedom of movement, export, manufacturing and the entry of raw materials.
He stressed his support for the voices calling for transparency in the financial matters, pointing out that the Gaza Municipality is seeking to keep its budgetary declared for the public, and hopes that there will be no obstacles in this framework.
Al-Sarraj unveiled a new temporary employment project for the municipality of Gaza with a share of $ 2.7 million, indicating that it consists of two parts, the first worth $ 1.6 million for operation and the second for labor-intensive development projects.
In a separate context, Al-Sarraj stressed the need to end the Palestinian division, pointing out that it affected the mechanism of electing or appointing the current municipal council that he heads.
He also said that the new municipal council has been elected or appointed, after the previous council expressed its desire to step down or resign or leave the opportunity for new faces.
Al-Sarraj revealed that the legal name of the new municipal council is a "Interim Committee for the management of the Gaza municipality," which is for a year which could be renewable or not, considering that it is essential to hold elections.
During the meeting, many questions, queries and interventions were presented by the attended journalists and writers.
This meeting is part of “Towards an Independent Media Platform for Capacity building, Awareness, and Involvement of Journalists” Project, funded by the Norwegian and Swiss governments, and implemented by the Foundation of the Press House-Palestine
