City Council opposition leader Saifuddin Advocate of the Jamaat-e-Islami on Thursday said that a no-confidence motion against Karachi Mayor Barrister Murtaza Wahab has become inevitable, adding that besides the JI, other opposition parties are also supportive of the move.
Speaking at a press conference on what he described as mega corruption in ongoing development schemes and the mayor’s poor performance, the JI leader said his party has 127 members in the City Council and is in contact with members of several other opposition parties.
He said the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz agrees with the JI’s position, while the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf, the Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam and the Tehreek-e-Labbaik Pakistan are also supportive of the move.
Citing alleged poor governance, corruption and failure to address the city’s worsening civic problems, the opposition leader said that the mayor’s five-year tenure, including two years as administrator and three as mayor, has yielded “zero” results.
He claimed that Karachi continues to suffer from serious municipal issues despite the city’s residents paying taxes worth billions of rupees, and that the incompetence and the corruption have reached their peak in government departments.
He said that contracts are being awarded to favoured contractors without transparent tendering, despite repeated complaints from the contractors’ association. Notices have been issued by accountability authorities but no meaningful action has followed, he added.
He also said the Sindh government wants the local government setup to remain in place until the next elections, but his party is not willing to accept that arrangement. Referring to the recent rains, he said the city’s fragile civic infrastructure has once again exposed the provincial government and the mayor, adding that 38mm of rain inundated large parts of Karachi, while ministers continue to compare the city with Dubai, where “much heavier rainfall does not disrupt daily life”.
He claimed that several major works, including projects on National Stadium Road, around the Empress Market and on Sharea Faisal, have either been awarded without tenders or lack proper documentation.
He also highlighted alleged financial irregularities in zoo-related development works, saying that a project involving a cage construction has seen payments far exceeding the actual cost. Criticising the Karachi Water & Sewerage Corporation, which functions under the mayor, he said work on the K-IV project has effectively stalled, claiming that the World Bank has intervened over corruption concerns.
The opposition leader further highlighted that the City Council is being run in an undemocratic manner, and said that the voting procedures are routinely bypassed. He also questioned the functioning of the Sindh Solid Waste Management Board, and asked where its Rs43 billion budget is being spent, claiming that garbage collection remains ineffective across the city.
The JI leader said that sewerage work does not fall within the formal responsibility of union committees and towns, adding that the JI-run local bodies have still spent significant resources on such works.
