Google Cloud Speech-to-Text API (Chirp) + Gemini 2.5 Flash Non-Thinking. Treat it as a searchable index of what was broadcast, not a quotation record.
00:04:45very little. It may not
00:04:57need a lot of
00:04:59transparency, a lot of
00:05:00governance, a lot of
00:05:25How many times did you have questions inside you, but you didn't ask them?
00:05:40How do municipal councils contribute?
00:05:45Municipal councils today development
00:05:49and progress. The dialogue arena, together,
00:05:53we discuss. Elections of municipal council members
00:05:56for the fourth term. With
00:05:59the greetings of the Ministry of Interior.
00:06:30Peace be upon you. Municipal councils represent
00:06:32one of the institutional links
00:06:36in the local development system, with
00:06:38the roles they play in monitoring
00:06:41the needs of wilayats, setting their priorities,
00:06:44and following up on projects and related services.
00:06:47With the approaching elections for the fourth term,
00:06:51attention turns to an electoral event
00:06:54in which 763
00:06:58male and female candidates
00:07:01compete, including 15 women, according to the final
00:07:04lists announced by the Ministry
00:07:07of Interior. Voting for Omani citizens abroad
00:07:11will take place on December 20,
00:07:152026, while voters inside
00:07:18the Sultanate of Oman will cast their votes
00:07:21on December 27,
00:07:242026. These
00:07:28elections gain their importance from
00:07:32the nature of the role played by
00:07:35municipal councils and the demands of
00:07:38the upcoming stage for visions capable
00:07:41of addressing the needs of wilayats, prioritizing them,
00:07:45and achieving balance between service
00:07:49demands and development aspirations. Planning
00:07:53for projects extends to following up
00:07:56on their progress, monitoring the challenges facing
00:08:00their implementation, and verifying
00:08:03society. Between planning
00:08:06and implementation, the importance
00:08:09of integration between municipal councils and governors,
00:08:12government agencies, and society emerges to ensure that
00:08:16proposals are transformed into effective projects
00:08:19and that their results are measured by
00:08:23the added value and quality they achieve in
00:08:27the lives of citizens. Welcome
00:08:29to Badr.
00:08:33week, we discuss the role of municipal councils in planning
00:08:36development projects and following up on their implementation,
00:08:39and the extent of their contribution to shaping
00:08:42local development priorities. Our first
00:08:45segment of the program is this survey
00:08:48by our colleague Mohammed
00:08:50Al-Rawahi.
00:08:58Knowing the needs of wilayats
00:09:01among the important pillars of the work of municipal councils. To
00:09:05what extent do municipal councils have a comprehensive vision for the needs
00:09:08of wilayats? Let's hear the opinions of citizens on that.
00:09:13Municipal councils, thank
00:09:15of knowledge and experience
00:09:19dealing with development
00:09:22and the development process. And this does not mean
00:09:27field or others. Work is work wherever it is found,
00:09:31and in whatever field it is found, it must be subject
00:09:34to deficiency because it is human, but
00:09:38development and qualification, thank God, are continuous. And every year we see cadres
00:09:44who are qualified and have a lot of experience
00:09:47and qualification. In my opinion,
00:09:51municipal councils possess an advanced and tangible vision for the needs
00:09:54of the wilayat, thanks to their direct
00:09:58proximity to citizens and continuous
00:10:02field interaction. This vision stems from
00:10:05community partnership and the use of modern
00:10:07digital tools, which contributes to determining
00:10:11priorities
00:10:14for each wilayat in a scientific and well-studied
00:10:17manner. Municipal councils must, of course, have a clear vision
00:10:21for the needs of the wilayats,
00:10:25according to the powers granted
00:10:29to them by the government.
00:10:32And the citizen, of course, looks forward to seeing this
00:10:35in reality, so that it is translated into
00:10:38projects that touch the citizen
00:10:41and are followed up by the government
00:10:44by going to the citizen and understanding
00:10:48their needs, and also having
00:10:50justice
00:10:54in these
00:10:57villages and regions. You know, of course, that
00:11:00the regions, they are scattered
00:11:03within the governorates, and therefore the issue of development is
00:11:06an urgent issue for
00:11:11the advisory councils or
00:11:14the municipal councils, pardon me, must be close to these
00:11:18projects and to the people of the wilayat. After
00:11:21three cycles, municipal councils must possess this clear vision.
00:11:25Especially since among the required basics
00:11:28from them annually is to prepare an annual plan and submit
00:11:31it accurately and in detail. Therefore,
00:11:35this clear vision must be prepared annually, aligned with Vision
00:11:382040 and the annual plans
00:11:42approved by the Sultanate as well. I believe that
00:11:45municipal councils can form a comprehensive vision through direct
00:11:49communication with the community and listening to its needs, while taking into account differences
00:11:52in priorities from one wilayat to another. And working on
00:11:56plans that meet the needs of the present
00:11:58and the aspirations and vision of the future.
00:12:02And now, dear viewers, let's review the opinions
00:12:05of citizens on the importance of a municipal council member following up on
00:12:08proposals and recommendations
00:12:11and their implementation. Follow-up is the mirror of every serious work, and a
00:12:14municipal council member must follow up on decisions
00:12:17and follow up on people's opinions and survey them as well. And the follow-up must be periodic
00:12:21for all proposals, and also classify them from
00:12:25the most important, then the more important,
00:12:28then the important, and so on. The basic
00:12:31pillar is follow-up
00:12:35the municipal council. For ideas and recommendations, unless they are implemented
00:12:39on the ground, they are just ink on paper, as
00:12:42they say. And they must be linked to
00:12:46implementation and follow-up.
00:12:48The member's role must be transformed from
00:12:52vision to tangible reality in order to strengthen bridges of trust
00:12:56between the citizen and the council and ensure increased
00:13:01local projects and their sustainability for a
00:13:04longer period of time. Follow-up
00:13:08limited to putting forward proposals only, but extends to following up
00:13:12on their implementation and transforming them into tangible results. The success
00:13:15of any proposal is not measured by its submission, but by the positive impact
00:13:20society. Dear viewers, these are the opinions
00:13:23of citizens on the role of councils
00:13:25in identifying the needs of wilayats and the importance of following up on
00:13:29proposals and recommendations,
00:13:31which contributes to strengthening municipal work and serving society.
00:13:46Elections of municipal council members for the fourth term.
00:13:50الرابعه.
00:14:00Be proactive in registering
00:14:02vote.
00:14:05Be proactive and make an impact. Elections of municipal council members
00:14:09for the fourth term, 2026.
00:14:11With the greetings of the Ministry of Interior.
00:14:15الداخليه.
00:14:27Welcome back, dear viewers, to this episode of
00:14:30the "Bader" program. In the context of discussing the developmental role
00:14:33of municipal councils and their responsibilities
00:14:37in identifying the needs of wilayats and prioritizing
00:14:40them, the importance of examining the mechanisms
00:14:44of planning for developmental projects and their transition from
00:14:47the proposal stage to implementation, and the accompanying
00:14:51challenges that require integrated roles
00:14:55between various institutions, emerges. To discuss these
00:14:57aspects, I welcome our guest in the studio, Mr.
00:15:01Abdullah bin Mohammed Al-Abri, academic and chairman of the board
00:15:05of directors of Nizwa Club. Mr. Abdullah, welcome to us. Welcome, Mr.
00:15:09Yaqoub, to this wonderful program and this wonderful civilized
00:15:12handling by Oman TV of local
00:15:16and national events. Thank you, welcome, and peace be upon you. When
00:15:19we look as a reading of municipal councils in the Sultanate
00:15:22of Oman and their chronological sequence, there are sources that indicated that
00:15:26municipal councils are not new in the Sultanate of Oman. They started in
00:15:301939 in Muscat Governorate,
00:15:33but, you know, there is a chronological sequence and a certain
00:15:36transition for these municipal councils according to the requirements
00:15:39of development in those stages. Why
00:15:43are municipal councils important in the Sultanate
00:15:46of Oman? First, councils in
00:15:49the Sultanate of Oman have a very
00:15:51significant dimension in Omani
00:15:55society. The Omani council and the Omani majlis are
00:15:59the basis for resolving disputes and issues,
00:16:04villages. This is what we inherited from our fathers. Therefore,
00:16:08the word "council" has an impact on the Omani
00:16:11personality. Thus, the municipal council, the Shura Council, the State
00:16:16Omani culture and Omani identity. Municipal
00:16:20councils, of course, in addition to coordinating between the government
00:16:23and society, they give
00:16:27Omani people
00:16:29in dealing with and engaging with their proposals
00:16:33and opinions in what serves
00:16:36the country, whether in the village or in the city
00:16:39or in the Sultanate of Oman as a whole. Therefore, the voice of this citizen
00:16:42reaches progressively through
00:16:45official channels, including the municipal council, until it reaches
00:16:48the responsible planner and implementer, and thus he sees
00:16:51the impact of his work in these villages and in
00:16:54these cities. This is the importance of municipal
00:16:58councils. Let's say, then, Mr. Abdullah, the importance of municipal councils on
00:17:01three levels: at the level of the citizen himself, at the level
00:17:05of the wilayat and governorate, and at
00:17:07the state level. If it is at the citizen level, it is a link between
00:17:11the citizen and also the state institutions that work on
00:17:15implementing and planning for developmental projects. And at the wilayat level, also,
00:17:18there are many projects being implemented now, and we notice
00:17:22how the governorates of the Sultanate of Oman are expanding at a rapid pace
00:17:26of development, in addition to the fact that at the state level also,
00:17:29there is an application today and a certain approach
00:17:33in accordance with the royal directives of His Majesty the Sultan and his wise
00:17:36vision, which is the principle of decentralization in these governorates.
00:17:40These three levels integrate for
00:17:43municipal councils. Have municipal councils,
00:17:46Mr. Abdullah, achieved the desired role
00:17:49from them? Of course, it is
00:17:52a qualitative leap
00:17:56wilayats and governorates, and therefore the directive of His Majesty
00:18:00(may God protect him) is for there to be decentralization in managing affairs
00:18:03and in dealing with development programs, whether
00:18:07service or development programs. Therefore, the governorates
00:18:11became responsible for these programs. Have municipal councils achieved this?
00:18:14Yes, to some extent and to a large extent, with variation
00:18:18between wilayats. They have achieved much of what the citizen
00:18:21aspires to. Previously, we only
00:18:24saw centralization in the implementation of some major and minor projects.
00:18:28Exactly. Whether service or development projects in
00:18:32the wilayats. Now we find real
00:18:36movement, and I observe
00:18:39it, given my position on the board of directors of Nizwa
00:18:42Club, responsible for this. There is engagement from municipal
00:18:46listening to segments of society, such as intellectuals,
00:18:54professors,
00:18:57and schools. All of these
00:18:59participating in serving the country through
00:19:03the municipal council. Yes, municipal councils have achieved,
00:19:06with some variation, let's say, between one wilayat and another, some of what
00:19:10the state aspires to in this decentralization.
00:19:13And therefore, we expect the next phase to be
00:19:17more interactive and more
00:19:20events and in serving the projects of
00:19:23the wilayats of the Sultanate in general. So, since you referred to
00:19:27the issue of the municipal council's proximity to the club and to young people,
00:19:30how is this relationship between
00:19:33the municipal council and young people? How do you interpret it, Mr. Abdullah?
00:19:37In fact, there is satisfaction,
00:19:41let's say, among optimists that
00:19:43there is a positive interaction
00:19:47between members. I'm talking about Nizwa wilayat,
00:19:50for example. There's a positive
00:19:53and the municipal council, and for example,
00:19:56Nizwa Club. Nizwa Club has
00:19:59more than 37 local teams distributed
00:20:03between Tanuf to Birkat Al Mouz to Khumeila
00:20:06to even Al Jabal Al Akhdar. All these local teams still follow Nizwa Club.
00:20:10Therefore, listening to these
00:20:12local teams, with all the national, youthful,
00:20:16qualified cadres
00:20:19they contain, to express their opinions in
00:20:22serving the wilayat. How is the interaction of young people with municipal council members in your area?
00:20:25It's not bad through official channels. There might have been some
00:20:29forums, some workshops were held,
00:20:31whether directed by the Governor's Office or
00:20:35by municipal council members within
00:20:37the general public. There is interaction, there is engagement, even through social
00:20:41media groups, Mr. Yaqoub. Now they have become
00:20:45a driving force for conveying what the people
00:20:48of the wilayat are suffering from and what is desired for this wilayat through
00:20:52its council. Therefore, there is interaction, there is engagement,
00:20:57give and take in discussion. There is a transfer
00:20:59of citizen concerns and needs from
00:21:03social media to official channels through municipal council members
00:21:06in every wilayat, especially Nizwa.
00:21:11in the wilayats
00:21:15many aspects. Now, what is the role
00:21:18of a municipal council member in transforming these
00:21:21demands and these needs into developmental
00:21:24priorities that are not detached
00:21:28the governorate? Before answering this question, Mr. Yaqoub, I
00:21:31hope that every municipal council in every wilayat has
00:21:35a vision and a mission. What we are witnessing
00:21:38now, with all due respect to the great
00:21:41work done by the governorates
00:21:44and Their Excellencies the Governors, may God reward them, the municipal
00:21:48councils, I would say to
00:21:51do not live up to the ambition of
00:21:54the wise government in our country. There should be
00:21:57a clear vision and a clear mission
00:22:00for what will be implemented during, for example, the term
00:22:05until it is re-elected
00:22:09or not
00:22:10re-elected.
00:22:13I hope that the interaction is in a
00:22:17civilized way. We have now passed the stage
00:22:21of experimentation and so on. We are, thank God, in the process of gaining
00:22:24experience from the Shura Council, the State Council, and we are qualified to interact in a
00:22:28civilized way. There are universities, higher education institutes,
00:22:32and studies. Professors
00:22:35are participating and academics should be involved.
00:22:39These people and university students should be involved in what
00:22:42the community needs. What we are seeing now is direction,
00:22:45as they say in English,
00:22:49uh, bottom-up, as they say, or from the top
00:22:52down. It should be from the bottom up, meaning
00:22:56knowing the needs of this bottom, what does society want, so that
00:23:00the top works to achieve these directions, and thus
00:23:03there will be integration of roles between society and
00:23:07municipal councils so that the vision and mission of each
00:23:10municipal council are achieved. Do you think municipal councils today work
00:23:14according to data, according to certain statistics, according to certain
00:23:17field studies? And sometimes they say
00:23:21that, well, a municipal council member cannot,
00:23:24for example, implement studies and so on, and only submits
00:23:28proposals to the municipal council. And you always know
00:23:31better, Mr. Abdullah, since you are an academic, that any proposal
00:23:35or any specific initiative must be based on data and
00:23:38studies and many things that a municipal council
00:23:42member must be aware of. To what extent does this cause a challenge? Also, this
00:23:45issue, and how can it be solved? I believe
00:23:50we are still before working through
00:23:54statistics and through studies.
00:23:57We are still in the stage of just what we need to do and accomplish
00:24:00like this. Yesterday, I was talking to one of the municipal
00:24:04council members, and he is a veteran, actually, for more than one term.
00:24:08So I asked, "How is your situation now that you are running
00:24:11again?" He said, "Frankly, it seems to us
00:24:14as if we have everything in our hands, as
00:24:18they say, which is not true.
00:24:20We only hear about projects being implemented." Aha.
00:24:24Okay. We come to meetings and demand
00:24:27studies, but we don't have them. We come to the periodic meetings or,
00:24:31for example, urgent ones. Yes. Or not,
00:24:35for example, periodic ones. And the meeting minutes
00:24:38are prepared in advance.
00:24:42We sign the meeting agenda, and the meeting
00:24:45ends. That's how we saw it.
00:24:49There are no studies. And therefore,
00:24:51we are still not at the stage of transparency
00:24:55and taking studies and surveys
00:24:59and what society aspires to. I hope that in every municipal council
00:25:03there is a media spokesperson. I have not seen one in a municipal council.
00:25:06Let someone bring me an example if there is one. A media spokesperson after every
00:25:10meeting discusses what the council discussed: one, two, three,
00:25:13four, five. The challenges: one, two, three.
00:25:16The implemented or to be implemented projects: these are for society.
00:25:20Do you have, for example, any opinions,
00:25:23etc.? There are no statistics yet. I was looking in the past
00:25:26two days before this episode, yes, for statistics
00:25:30for, for example, municipal council meetings. Frankly, I found
00:25:35live up to Oman's civilized experience in
00:25:39various consultative
00:25:42and parliamentary fields. Therefore, we are still modest. We still
00:25:50monitoring in the performance of these councils so that
00:25:54we achieve the aspirations of the top and bottom in this dear nation.
00:25:58So let's stop at this
00:26:01point, Mr. Abdullah, regarding
00:26:04the role of a municipal council member. Is it limited only to a procedural
00:26:08role of attending meetings
00:26:11and, you know, the topics are ready and available, or is there
00:26:15also a truly active role and a tangible
00:26:18impact for a municipal council member? I believe
00:26:21here the royal directives of His Majesty the Sultan
00:26:25were also clear regarding the call
00:26:28for the integration of roles between municipal council
00:26:31members and also the governor, so that this
00:26:35process is complementary. Today we are talking about the complementarity
00:26:38of roles, whether between these elected councils or
00:26:41also with the executive bodies that work on
00:26:45implementing various developmental projects, and that
00:26:48the role of a municipal council member is not limited
00:26:51procedural meetings, because this creates a gap, it also creates
00:26:55a distance between society and municipal council members, and it is a connected
00:26:59chain that also distances
00:27:02citizens or voters from nominating themselves for
00:27:06municipal councils, because councils today feel an impact. There may actually
00:27:10be impacts that have also been achieved, to be
00:27:12fair. There are also many impacts and works
00:27:15that have been achieved by municipal council members. But what dominates
00:27:19these municipal councils? Municipal councils
00:27:22have a big role, so we don't deny their right, and the future
00:27:25is better, and Oman deserves the best from these councils. But
00:27:29what is the official nature of municipal councils? It is only periodic
00:27:33meetings, and therefore what the viewer or
00:27:36follower or this voter
00:27:39I mean, in the council, what happened, what was achieved, what are
00:27:43the challenges? I mentioned earlier in the previous
00:27:46question, one of the municipal council members told
00:27:49me, "We only ask when there are problems with the residents."
00:27:53Aha. I mean, a project is being implemented,
00:27:56okay? A service project, for example, let's say lighting, or for example, paving
00:28:00roads, or for example, connecting fiber optic cables
00:28:04and so on. Only, I mean,
00:28:09residents is how we resolve matters with these
00:28:12people who might be an obstacle to implementing projects. So
00:28:16where were we from the beginning of the project? Why didn't
00:28:20ourselves in planning and in studying these projects so that we are
00:28:24aware and therefore we can tell you what the expected
00:28:27challenges are? I'll give you an example, Mr. Yaqoub. A few
00:28:31years ago, I was talking to an elderly man in
00:28:34Nizwa. This elderly man was 80 years old. Yes. This
00:28:38elderly man, he might be seen as an ordinary person,
00:28:41but this man studied outside the Sultanate in more than
00:28:46the sixties, and he studied in Poland. Clearly.
00:28:49And he returned to Oman and became one of the national figures in the country, and now
00:28:53he has passed away to the afterlife. But I was
00:28:56asking him after the implementation of the sewage project in Nizwa,
00:29:00after its inauguration, of course, that project, transparently,
00:29:03and this is available, faced countless
00:29:06challenges. Yes. Clearly.
00:29:09And huge amounts of money were poured
00:29:13into addressing these challenges with
00:29:16citizens, with roads, even the last incident was the
00:29:19collapse of Wadi Bighir, I mean, without
00:29:23being accompanied by these waters. It came out like that on its
00:29:27own, I mean, to Nizwa, this section.
00:29:31available, but I asked this elderly man, what do you think?
00:29:34And he was one of the beneficiaries. What
00:29:37do you think, father, about this project? He told me frankly
00:29:41and simply that it is a failed project. The word
00:29:44is big, but I ask why the father, excuse us for the
00:29:48simple talk, he said if they had consulted us
00:29:50as fathers and residents of the area, we would have advised them
00:29:53to place the pumping station somewhere other than
00:29:56its current location. I asked him how. He said they put it in
00:29:59that place. I know it in Nizwa and now all of
00:30:04this place, its elevation, we know from the aflaj
00:30:08its elevation level is equivalent to the elevation level of Nizwa
00:30:11Fort. Meaning pumping, yes,
00:30:15water to the elevation of Nizwa Fort until it reaches
00:30:18the pump. He says if they had consulted us, we would have told them to put it on the
00:30:21other side so that it would flow smoothly. This
00:30:25is an example that
00:30:28in taking, so that we don't encounter problems later and it escalates. And listening
00:30:40to these opinions, yields positive results.
00:30:43And this is, Professor Abdullah, the government
00:30:47plans, the strategic plans
00:30:50that are built on community participation, because the
00:30:54geographical nature of the Sultanate of Oman, this is what you talked about,
00:30:57relates to the geographical nature, of course.