MPs visit Ghazni like guests: residents

GHAZNI CITY (PAN members hailing from southern Ghazni visit the province as if they were guests, not representatives, residents say.

The manager of the Bakhtar News Agency in Ghazni, Raz Mohammad, said he had no faith in the lawmkers from Ghazni and that the MPs visited the province once a year.

He said none of the representatives had ever listened to the problems facing the people of the province.  “They come to the province with officials from Kabul for one or two hours,” he said.

Ghazni has 11 seats, including three for women, in the Wolesi Jirga.

Khalid, a student at Sultan Mahmud high school, said he did not know most of Ghazni’s representaives by name.

A final-year student at the Ghazni Teacher Training College, Mohammad Omar Saleh, said he knew only three representatives in the previous Parliament.

He said that after last year’s parliamentary elections, he never saw the winning MPs again.

A former Wolesi Jirga member, Abdul Jabar Shalgari, said he remained in contact with his people when as a member of Parliament.

He said he travelled to Ghazni several times a year and had tried to help Ghazni residents resolve their problems.

myn/ma