Al-Najjar: “Our performance was constricted by the separation of the Budget from the Action Plan. We would have wanted the Budget and Action Plan to be merged in order to guarantee the inclusion of agreed projects”
Member of Permanent Committee for Public Utilities and Environment
Deputy Head of Committee for Supporting the Palestinian People
However, in open parliamentary sessions Al-Najjar is one of the less prominent voices. Between May and September 2015, almost nothing was heard from Al-Najjar in Parliament or in the media. However, he voted in favour of the State Budget during the 2 July 2015 parliamentary session and participated in an Al-Wasat round-table debate shortly afterwards.
ACTIVITY DURING 2015-2016 PARLIAMENT SEASON
Housing, services & infrastructure
Housing: During a parliamentary debate on 13 Oct in which the Housing Minister was present, Al-Najjar condemned the Govt’s refusal to raise housing benefits to BD 200, “while money is squandered on unsuitable objectives”.
Transport: MPs Mohammed al-Ammadi, Isa Turki, Abdulhamid al-Najjar, Majid al-Majid and Ali al-Aradi have proposed widening the Wali al-Ahad and Hamala roads to ease congestion. Al-Wasat reported on 23 Oct that this proposal was to be discussed in the coming parliamentary session. On 27 Oct, MPs approved this proposal.
Standards of living, health & education
Public Utilities Committee: Al-Najjar on 28 Oct said that the Committee had discussed proposals for modifying the municipalities law; along with a number of other private proposals.
Good governance & public finance
Subsidies: During the 27 Oct open parliamentary debate on subsidy reform, Al-Najjar said that subsidy reform should have been implemented within the context of the new Budget. He questioned how the additional funds allotted to subsidies would be used and why the Government was rushing into these measures. “If we had known that things in Bahrain were this bad, we would have stared consuming water and dates and going about our business on foot to avoid using cars”.
Parliament role & constituent engagement
Parliament Dec 2014-July 2015: Al-Najjar during a round-table Al-Wasat interview on 11 July alongside other MPs commented: We rejected the public debt bill [for increasing the debt ceiling] at first because we didn’t understand the intricacies of the issues in front of us and we were dependent on the efforts of 30 new MPs with no experience for grappling with these issues. Even the Government was unsuccessful in proposing its projects in the Action Plan, because it was submitting this for the first time’.
“Our performance was constricted by the separation of the Budget from the Action Plan. We would have wanted the Budget and Action Plan to be merged in order to guarantee the inclusion of agreed projects along with the necessary funding in the Budget.”
ACTIVITY DURING 2014-2015 PARLIAMENT SEASON
Housing, services & infrastructure
Construction projects: On 13 February Al-Najjar questioned the Minister of Works about projects undertaken for Hamad Town. And again, during the 17 February parliamentary session Al-Najjar gave a detailed assessment of areas in the Hamad Town locality which are a “source of annoyance” to local citizens. He urged urgent action to address these issues. Al-Najjar praised the Prime Minister on 14 April for action to prepare detailed planning for upgrading projects in his Hamad Town locality, including two schools, a health centre a sports centre and a Mosque.
Housing benefit: Al-Najjar was one of five MPs who proposed increasing housing allowance from 100 to 200 BD, the proposal was debated and approved in Parliament on 17 March.
Standards of living, health & education
Education: Al-Najjar announced on 16 February that an agreement had been reached with the Ministry of Education for two new schools in Hamad Town as well as an industrial college.
During the 24 March open parliamentary debate on Bahraini teachers, Al-Najjar recognized that sometimes foreign teachers were needed to fill gaps, but this sometimes posed problems of “language and accent”.
Health & safety: On 15 Feb Al-Najjar questioned whether the Ministry of Health providing enough inspectors to monitor standards in cafes, shops and restaurants.
Al-Najjar during the 2 June parliamentary session accused some Ministry of Health inspectors of accepting bribes to avoid action being taken against restaurants or food producers. The Health Minister said that if he was given names, action would be taken.
Water reserves: On 30 March Al-Najjar tabled formal questions to the Energy Minister about water reserves. Al-Najjar during the 5 May parliamentary session questioned the Oil Minister about water reserves. He questioned the risks of just having reserves covering three days’ supply and questioned what would happen is a strike against Iranian nuclear reactors poisoned Gulf Sea waters, as well as asking about water usage by heavy industry.
Disabled: Al-Najjar on 21 April criticized high costs for low-income families for prosthetic limbs and other costs associated with disabilities. He was responding to comments from the Health Minister in answer to his previous question on the issue.
Economy & employment
Foreign workers: During the 3 March debate on the so-called “free visa” system”, Al-Najjar called for a monitoring committee to crack down on human trafficking.
Good governance & public finance
Minister interrogation: During the 5 May parliamentary session an insufficient number of MPs voted in support of interrogating the Health Minister over issues raised in the Audit report (23 supported, below the 2/3 quota of 27 MPs). Al-Kooheji voted in favour of the interrogation.
Debt ceiling: According to Al-Watan on 14 May Al-Najjar was one of the 20 MPs who said that they would give conditional support to raising the debt ceiling to 7bn BD.
Rights & freedoms
Palestine: Najjar on 3 March during a parliamentary delegation to the Palestinian Embassy affirmed Bahrain’s support for the Palestinian cause.
Youth, culture & sport
Sports: Al-Najjar on 13 January proposed a sports centre in his local constituency. During the 12 May parliamentary session around 15 proposals previously submitted by MPs were approved in a series of votes. These included setting up a sports and cultural centre in Hamad Town.
Effectiveness rating
- Standards of living, health & education – 6
- Housing & services – 5
- Policing & regional security – 4
- Good governance & public finance – 3
- Economy & employment – 4
- Supporting constituents & youth – 6
- Rights & freedoms – 4
- Constructive Parliament role – 3
- Public visibility – 4
- Progressive/reformist credentials – 3
Results of 2014 elections – 9th Northern
Areas covered: Hamad Town
Housing blocks: 1210, 1209, 1207, 1205
Registered voters: 12,315; Percentage 1st round voter turnout: 40.5%
First round vote:
Hassan al-Alawi – 1091 (23.5%); Abdulhamid al-Najjar – 1061 (22.9%); Yousif Zainal – 952 (20.5%); Abdullah Tarrar – 536 (11.6%); M. Baqer – 421 (9.1%); Ahmed Arad (NUG) – 258 (5.6%); Mahmoud Abdulrahman – 177; Ahmed al-Qahiri – 86; Ahmed Yousif – 52
Second round vote:
Abdulhamid Abdulhussain al-Najjar – 1977 (56.1%)
Hassan al-Alawi – 1546 (43.9%)
Profile of election campaign: Abdulhamid Abdulhussain Ahmed al-Najjar
Although Al-Najjar’s participation in previous parliamentary elections contests shows what a locally strong candidate he is, so he was always a favourite. Both second-round candidates were Sunnis with a clear religious agenda. Al-Najjar stated earlier in the contest that his priority was fighting “moral corruption”. The fact that Shia cleric Mohammed Baqer got nearly 10 percent of the first round vote shows the sectarian diversity of this constituency and the importance of traditional religious values. Al-Najjar said he had received offers from societies to participate on their lists, but declined.
Constituency demographic
Hamad Town is a demographically mixed area. The majority of voters in the 9th District can be expected to back a Sunni loyalist. However, the diversity of the candidates reflects the presence of Bahrani and Ajam Shia communities. The varied turnout rates in different Hamad Town constituencies – between 40% and more than 70% – reflects this diversity.
Know your deputy: Profiles of other Bahrain MPs
Adel al-Asoumi – 1st Capital
Ahmed Qaratah – 2nd Capital
Adel Bin-Hamid Abdulhussain – 3rd Capital
Deputy-Head of Parliamentary Human Rights Committee
Abdulrahman Bumjaid – 4th Capital
Nasser al-Qaseer – 5th Capital
Deputy Head of the Permanent Committee for Financial and Economic Matters
Ali al-Atish – 6th Capital
Osamah al-Khajah – 7th Capital
Shaikh Majid al-Asfour – 8th Capital
Mohammed Jaffar Milad – 9th Capital
Nabil al-Balooshi – 10th Capital
Ali Bufarsan – 1st Muharraq
Head of Committee for Youth and Sports
Ibrahim al-Hammadi – 2nd Muharraq
Jamal Buhassan – 3rd Muharraq
Isa al-Kooheji – 4th Muharraq
Head of the Permanent Committee for Financial and Economic Matters
Mohammed al-Jowder – 5th Muharraq
Abbas al-Madhi – 6th Muharraq
Ali al-Muqla – 7th Muharraq
Abdulrahman Bu-Ali – 8th Muharraq
Fatimah al-Asfour – 1st Northern
Deputy Head of the Committee for Women and Children
Jalal Kadhim al-Mahfoudh – 2nd Northern
Deputy Head of Committee for Youth and Sports
Hamad al-Dossary – 3rd Northern
Ghazi Al Rahmah – 4th Northern
Deputy Head of Permanent Committee for Public Utilities and Environment
Ali al-Aradi – 5th Northern
Deputy Head of Parliament
Rua al-Haiki – 6th Northern
Shaikh Majid al-Majid – 7th Northern
Head of the Permanent Committee for Shari’ah and Legal Matters
Dr. Isa Turki – 8th Northern
Abdulhamid Abdulhussain al-Najjar – 9th Northern
Deputy Head of Committee for Supporting the Palestinian People
Mohammed al-Ammadi – 10th Northern
Head of Committee for Supporting the Palestinian People
Jamal Dawoud – 11th Northern
Head of Permanent Committee for Public Utilities and Environment
Jamila al-Sammak – 12th Northern
Head of the Committee for Women and Children
Khalid al-Shaer – 1st Southern
Head of Parliamentary Human Rights Committee
Mohammed al-Ahmed – 2nd Southern
Abdulhalim Murad – 3rd Southern
Second Deputy Head of Parliament
Mohammed al-Maarifi – 4th Southern
Deputy Head of the Permanent Committee for Services
Khalifa al-Ghanim – 5th Southern
Anas Buhindi – 6th Southern
Deputy Head of the Permanent Committee for Shari’ah and Legal Matters
Abdullah Bin-Huwail – 7th Southern
Head of the Permanent Committee for Foreign, Defence and National Security Affairs
Dhiyab al-Noaimi – 8th Southern
Mohsin al-Bakri – 9th Southern
Ahmed al-Mulla – 10th Southern
Head of Parliament