As part of the fight against the crime families, the Minister of the Interior, Ayelet Shaked, decided to promote a strange, unusual and even dangerous move (which is unlikely to stand the test of the High Court) - to take the tenders in all areas from local authorities, especially the Arab ones, and transfer them to government.
If this move is carried out, it will be against the will of the electorate and against the will of the elected officials of the local authorities - both Arab and Jewish - and the important question is whether it will stop here and not be a basis for constant cuts in local authority powers. The public only.
Admittedly, there is indeed a problem with local government in Arab and Jewish society, but the war on corruption, families and criminal organizations should be sweeping, anytime, anywhere, regardless of local or central government.
The move, as proposed by Minister Shaked, will have many negative consequences for local authorities, and it is no coincidence that the chairman of the Committee of Arab Local Authorities, Moder Yunis, announced that they oppose the initiative.
Any local authority, municipality, local or regional council, constitutes a form of a certain autonomy.
It handles the affairs of the locality, serves the residents and develops the place, according to permission and authority it has received from the central government, and it is supervised by the state authorities - including the ministers in charge and the professional staff in each and every ministry.
The issuance of the authority to engage in tenders by the local authorities will harm the authorities not only for reasons of control, but also for reasons of authority and recognition of the interests of each locality and locality.
For more than two decades, the Ministry of the Interior has appointed at least two representatives on its behalf in each authority to oversee the work of its head, council members and employees.
The first representative is the district superintendent and the second is the lending accountant - who takes care of the public coffers, through which every contract or tender is passed and signed.
The move proposed by Shaked is like an admission that the ministry has failed miserably in its job, and the interior minister should have promoted a home inspection in her office to understand how money is paid or tenders are given to families or criminal organizations, signed by the accompanying accountant.
It is also worth examining how the decisions of the local authorities are approved by the district ministry officers and by the district supervisors throughout the country.
Despite the anomalies in local government, and the corruption that is sometimes revealed, it is better to strengthen the professional staff, especially the internal auditors, treasurers and legal advisers, and apply the personal charge clause to elected officials who ignore Interior Ministry decisions, rather than deprive them of powers.
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