Page 207 - Arabia the Gulf and the West

204 Arabia, the Gulf and the West

Abu Dhabi and Dubai. The president of the U A E, who is elected for a term of
five years, is Shaikh Zayid ibn Sultan of Abu Dhabi; the vice-president, whois
elected for the same period of time, is Shaikh Rashid ibn Said of Dubai. Both
were re-elected at the end of their first term of office late in 1976. It was never
the intention of the framers of the constitution that it should introduce any
basic change in the nature of government in the constituent shaikhdoms of the

federation, or that it should provide for significant popular participation in the
federal government. The only body established by the constitution which
possesses real power is the federal supreme council, which is composed of
the rulers of the seven shaikhdoms. Its decisions are reached by majority vote,
with the rulers of Abu Dhabi and Dubai both possessing the power of
veto.

Responsibility for the implementation of the supreme council’s decisions
lies with the federal council or cabinet. The members of the cabinet - prime
minister, deputy prime minister and some two dozen other ministers - are all
appointed by the president. As is to be expected, the composition of the cabinet
reflects the predominance of Abu Dhabi and Dubai in the federation: the
prime minister, deputy prime minister and the ministers of finance, defence,

foreign affairs and the interior are all members or close adherents of the ruling
Al Nihayan and Al Maktum families. A federal national council was estab­
lished by the constitution to serve the supreme council as a consultative
assembly. It consists of forty delegates (eight each from Abu Dhabi and Dubai,
six each from Sharjah and Ras al-Khaimah and four from each of the other

three shaikhdoms), appointed by the rulers of the respective shaikhdoms for a
term of two years. From the ambiguous way in which the relevant clauses in the
constitution are phrased, it would seem that the national council has no power
to initiate legislation. Its function would simply appear to be to discuss and
approve draft legislation, including the federal budget, presented to it by the
council of ministers. Though claims are made for the liveliness of discussions
within the national council and the independence of spirit shown by some of its

members, it seems on the whole to be nothing more than a tame assembly of
placemen and drones.
If the federal government structure so far erected serves any useful purpose,
it is as yet another means of distributing cash and sinecures to the native Arab
inhabitants of the U AE. There are, as remarked already, some 28,000 federal

civil servants. What they do is beyond the power of anyone to identify with any
certainty. The federal budget is provided wholly by Abu Dhabi, although in
1977 Sharjah, Ajman and Fujairah promised to pay 2 per cent of it. Dubai, Ras
al-Khaimah and Umm al-Qaiwain refuse to contribute a single dirham. Shaikh
Zavid of Abu Dhabi has from the start been the most dedicated champion of
the federation, a dedication which has been interpreted by the other rulers (and
bv Shaikh Rashid of Dubai and Shaikh Saqr of Ras al-Khaimah in particular)

as evidence of his intention to use the federation as an instrument to secure his