In the wake of the flood disasters in the Kingdom and the subsequent need for organized volunteers, the Shoura Council has proposed that a new government body, headed by a minister, be set up to oversee such workers. At its session on Sunday, Shoura Council members recommended setting up a body, to be possibly called the Higher Council for Volunteer Work, to be chaired by a minister and to be linked directly to the Council of Ministers. It will be a legal entity and have an independent budget. Dr. Talal Bakri, Chairman of the Social, Family and Youth Affairs Committee at the Shoura Council, argued that this was needed because the recent floods in Jeddah and Riyadh had exposed the volunteer workforce as chaotic and disorganized. However, Bakri praised the contribution of youth groups for showing “selflessness” in carrying out relief work. Another Shoura Council member, Amer Al-Luwaihiq, had a slightly different view. “We do not need to create government authorities to be headed by ministers. We need a body or a charitable society in which the citizens will work and be supported by the state. It can be headed by a citizen and it should be linked to the Ministry of Interior because it is the Ministry of Interior which is in charge of the security authorities and the Civil Defense.” In another development, in its discussion of the annual follow-up report for the eighth five-year development plan for the Institute of Public Administration (IPA), the Shoura Council recommended focusing on upgrading the efficiency of government employees through training, consultation and administrative studies. Meanwhile, the council approved with a majority the 16-article draft regulations for organizing the Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques' Prize for Inventors and the Gifted; and the draft general agreement for cooperation between the Kingdom and Zambia. In another development, the Shoura Council lauded the decision of the Board of Senior Ulema (Scholars) to declare as criminals those who fund terrorism. The council emphasized that the decision of the board supports the measures of the state to contain terrorism and cut off all its sources of funding.
