Ali Jassim has been an FNC member longer than any other. He has learnt much in that time and says that members serving longer terms would be beneficial, rather than having new members struggling to grasp the gist of council protocols. Ola Salem reports
ABU DHABI // Ali Jassim has served in the Federal National Council for more than two decades, making him the longest-serving member in the council’s history.
From his appointment in 1993, when all the council’s work was done on paper, Mr Jassim, a former deputy speaker, has seen it all.
Since then, the FNC has migrated its work to computers, the managerial team became a department and the help given to members increased drastically.
During his terms, five speakers have come and gone, each with their own work method.
“Each speaker is different,” he said. “In how they deal with members and how much they participate in the FNC. Some used to even attend the committee meetings. Even ministers did.”
In Mr Jassim’s opinion, an FNC speaker should have prior council experience to qualify.
“The speaker should be one of the older members,” he said. “Or with a formerly leading role at a ministry. Not someone who has no experience.”
During a public session in 2012, Mr Jassim had a minor spat with the current speaker, Mohammed Al Mur. When the speaker told Mr Jassim to improve his speaking manners after Mr Jassim objected to being interrupted, he walked out of the council chambers.
The Government has also made leaps in development since his appointment. The past two decades have resulted in a particular focus on updating laws.
“What distinguishes the UAE is that it is ahead of other countries when it comes to laws. They are regularly checked,” he said.
Mr Jassim noted that changes made to the federal budget were a result of the council’s constant check on the Government. From a simple figure, the budget moved towards programmes and finally to the zero-based budget.
The country has also introduced a lot more ministries and other federal entities.
“This was all to help the country to develop,” he said. “The budgets were increased. The past was a time of change and development in the country, so work was more. Now things are stable.”
Mr Jassim’s performance in the council, he said, may seem to be less than his efforts in previous years, but “only because the country has reached such high standards”.
“I do not see my work decreasing, but development is far greater than previously,” he said. “I see a lot of improvement in a lot of fields. What we do now is emphasise on some services and participate in some law discussions.”
He said members went through a number of phases with each year on the council, with the fourth and final year being one where members are not too worried about ending their term on a high note.
“In every chapter you see in the first term there is always observation and getting acquainted with the FNC’s mechanism. In the second year there is great ambition as they already have the experience. That fades away over the next two years.”
If members had longer terms on the council, Mr Jassim said, it would help to speed up the council’s work.
When turnover is high, he said, new members usually take a while to get the gist of the council’s work. “When all the members are new then they are in a stage of instability,” he said. “But when there is a number of [former members], there is more stability, they would not have to go through stages of learning and getting experience. A lot of time is taken up by new members getting to grips with the FNC.”
He said members also tended to dwell too long on the questioning segment of council sessions with occasional unnecessary questions.
“The FNC by-laws are specific on questions raised,” he said. “Don’t bring a minister in just to ask him to make retired Emiratis school bus drivers. As an FNC member you should be cautious of the ministers’ time.”
He also criticised members for not making regular visits to ministries and keeping check on programmes and budget spending.
While Mr Jassim thinks it is unlikely he would serve another term, he is grateful for the knowledge and experience gained from his 21 years on the council.
“I learnt how to discuss laws and I’ve learnt from the experience and expertise of other members,” he said. “I will always have a special spot for the FNC.”
osalem@thenational.ae
