As a result of the Know Your Councillor campaign carried out by several civil society groups, Penangites will be able to judge for themselves whether the MPPP councillors are up to mark
PENANGITES will have a chance to judge for themselves the performance of the 23 Penang Island Municipal Council (MPPP) councillors last year.
As a result of the Know Your Councillor campaign carried out by several civil society groups, the councillors' accomplishments will be uploaded onto the websites of several stakeholders including Suaram Penang, Sembang Forum and Coalition for Good Governance Penang.
Besides being asked to list three of their major achievements for last year, the councillors were also asked to give three of their main goals for this year if they were re-appointed as councillors, as well as the reason for their re-appoinment.
A representative of the several civil society groups which initiated the campaign, Tan Seng Hai, said while some progress had been made in improving the delivery system and participatory process of the MPPP, there was still room for improvement.
"Councillors are seen by rate-payers as the first line of access to the local government. They are expected to serve the interests of ratepayers. As such, there should be more checks and balances without fear or favour in the decisions of the committees they sit on," he said.
Tan said several notable accomplishments of the councillors were the enforcement and extension of vehicle clamping and towing to alleviate traffic congestion, upgrading and maintaining facilities for low-cost housing areas and improving and upgrading of wet markets.
Dr Lim Mah Hui, for instance, was responsible for the campaign and the implementation of car clamping and towing on the island and for the installation of the first bio-regenerating composting machine in the MPPP food court in Bayan Lepas.
Meanwhile, Tan said only 17 out of the 23 councillors had responded to questionnaires sent to them. They were given 14 days to reply from Dec 23.
He said the results were shown to state local government committee chairman Chow Kon Yeow recently.
"We want to make the results public. This will help the ratepayers to understand the roles and functions of the councillors better and to see for themselves whether the councillors have indeed carried out their responsibilities effectively and efficiently," he said.
Of the 23 councillors who responded, eight were from DAP, six from PKR, two from Pas and one from non-governmental organisations.
The councillors were appointed from political parties -- 10 from DAP, eight from PKR and two from Pas -- while the rest are representatives of NGOs and chambers of commerce.
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