Page 323 - Bahrain Gov Annual Reports (IV)_Neat

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MUNICIPALITIES

Manamah Municipality
(From the report of Mr. Mohammed Saleh Shat tar, Secretary, Manamah Municipality.)

The Manamah Municipality consists of a Council of 24 members of whom half arc elected by the
householders and half arc nominated by the Government, under the presidency of a senior member
of the Ruling Family, who is now Shaikh Abdulla bin Isa AlKhalifah, with a Deputy President, Shaikh
Daij bin Hamad AlKhalifah, and a Secretary, Mohammed Saleh Shattar, a Sunni Arab. The Munici­
pality was started in 1919 and during its existence there have been many changes in its constitution.
Originally the members represented the various sects and nationalities living in Manamah, Sunni and
Shia Arabs, Sunni and Shia Persians, Hindus, Indian Moslems, Jews, Saudi Arabs, etc. The late Ruler
was himself President of the Council but as this gave the Council the weight of government authority
His Highness Shaikh Hamad retired from this position and appointed Shaikh Mohammed bin Isa
AlKhalifah in his place. Shaikh Mohammed’s frequent absences from Bahrain made it necessary
for someone else to take over the post and Shaikh Abdulla bin Isa AlKhalifah was appointed in his
place.
By degrees the government made changes in the system of elections with the object of doing
away with sectarial distinctions as it was felt that in the past too much emphasis had been given to the
question of Sunni and Shia representation. The town was divided into seven wards represented by
two or more members according to the number of inhabitants in the ward. Members representing
wards were required to own property in the ward though it was not essential that they should live in
it. The right to vote was held by every person who paid Municipal tax, this in fact confined the
voters to persons owning or occupying houses or shops in the Municipal area and excluded the large
floating population of Manamah, made up of Persian and Omani coolies and others. A man living alone
in one barasti as well as a merchant living in a large house with numerous relations and servants were
equally entitled to one vote.
The last election was in May 1950. The members who were elected by the public consisted
of two Shia Arabs, eight Sunni Arabs, 011c Sunni Persian and one Sunni Najdi; the government
nominated three Shia Arabs, five Sunni Arabs, two Indians, one Najdi and one Iraqi. In the election
a number of young Arabs were returned after a lively election campaign during which they used a
loud speaker mounted on a car to encourage voters. The Shia Arabs did no active canvassing. The
new Council revolved itself into a three party affair, Shia Arabs, older members and new blood.

In February 1951 a question of compensation for a shop which was Sunni Waqf property
came up before the Council. It was twice decided that compensation should not be paid but when,
wrongly, the matter was raised a third time the Sunni members by a majority, reversed the decision.
On this the five Shia Arabs (Bahama), resigned from the Council. Such an incident was unique in
the history of the Municipality, which has existed since 1919.
For some time the government took no action, hoping that the matter would settle itself.
Various people offered to pay the amount in order to make agreement possible. Finally the govern­
ment commenced a series of discussions with the five members with the object of persuading them to
return to the Council, it also informed the Municipality that it had acted wrongly in reversing its
decisions and it gave instructions about methods of dealing with such cases to prevent similar occur­
rences in future, but the five members refused to withdraw their resignations nor was it possible to
hold bye-elections as the people who voted for the five members would vote for no others.
It was eventually decided that the Council would continue to function without the Shia members
for the remainder of its two-year session. It was an unsatisfactory arrangement resulting in a
Municipal Council predominantly Sunni dealing with Municipal affairs of a city with a large Shia
population. Inevitably it gave rise to a certain amount of Sunni-Shia friction which the government
has always been at pains to avoid,