KABUL - Municipalities across the country do not have any mechanism subjecting them to accountability by urban residents who have no idea of their annual budgets, a new cluster survey finds.
The survey -- City, Citizens and Mayor -- was conducted in 33 cities by Focus, a development organisation. Focus spokesman Abdul Nafi Himmat said on Monday conducting the survey took six months.
Of the 9,100 people interviewed, 67% were men, 33% women, 46% literate and 53% illiterate. Since Nooristan does not have a municipality, no one was interviewed there.
The survey was carried out by 60 male and 30 female journalists/surveyors voluntarily. The findings include 10 major issues facing each city. The main urban issues are:
1. 25.38% of residents say they do not have clean drinking water;
2. 13.37% say streets and roads are not cleared of trash and garbage;
3. 12.10% say there are no parks;
4. 10.40% complain there plazas or business centres for women;
5. 9.99% say streets, roundabouts and roads do not have signboards;
6. 9.02% lament the absence of a proper drainage system;
7. 8.46% resent there are no parking lots in bazaars;
8. 6.44% complain of the absence of public toilets in the cities;
9. 3.14% say there are no mourning halls for women in cites; and
10. 1.69% say lands have not been allotted for graveyards.
The findings shows 94.40% residents say municipalities do not have complaint centres, with 91% note the absence of a mechanism for residents, civil societies and media to oversee activities of municipalities.
According to the survey, 91% of respondents claim mayors and municipalities are involved in corruption, with 53% suggesting reforms in the electoral system to ensure mayor are elected, not selected.
Top 10 mayors at the national level are:
1: Ghulam Haidar Hamidi, former mayor of Kandahar City;
2: Kiramatullah Khpalwak, former mayor of Khost City;
3: Eng. Faridoon Ahmadi, former mayor of Ghazni City;
4: Dr. Ghulam Sakhi Noorzad, former mayor of Kabul;
5: Eng. Mahmood Amiri, current mayor of Maidan Shahr;
6: Najibullah Omarkhel, current mayor of Kunduz City;
7: Khwaja Roohullah Seddiqi, current mayor of Charikar;
8: Mohammed Younas Muqeem, former mayor of Mazar-i-Sharif;
9: Syed Ahmad Safi, former mayor of Gardez; and
10: Abubakar Farestan, current mayor of Qala-i-Naw.(Pajhwok)