Elat’s Mayor – Ministry Business
It turned out that the Mayor from Elat’s town had decided to take his wife on a holiday overseas, however, when he went to the travel agent he was told that she would have to send out letters to his constituents asking if any of them had any objections to the agent selling him tickets for the holiday. The mayor was outraged but the travel agent explained, a new procedure was in place to ensure there were no local repercussions from a constituency due to the Mayor’s absence. Complaints she explained, would be sent to the Local Government Ministry for adjudication, this procedure took approximately six weeks. In the meantime, the Mayor was at liberty to make a tentative booking, in case there were no serious objections, which the Ministry upheld.
The mayor’s wife was distressed, the Mayor was outraged and so he phoned the Ministry for Local Affairs and was told, ever so politely, there were rules and regulations and that they applied, especially to people in his position and that being a Local Government officer, surely he of all people could understand that.
The Mayor tried to purchase the tickets directly from the airline, but was told most apologetically that in order to ensure that no-one was disadvantaged, the airline could only sell him his tickets through a local travel agent to ensure that everyone who had an interest in the Mayors well-being, had a chance to express their concerns before he took any action that might have adverse consequences for them. No matter who he contacted, the Mayor found himself hedged in by rules and regulations that took account, seemingly, of everyone’s interests but his.
It so happened that Elat had submitted a request for a permit to extend his house, adding a room for his growing family and had been told that this would be impossible because his house would then be 1% over the limit permitted for dwellings on land of his size. Elat could get no satisfaction regarding his permit when he heard about the Mayor’s upcoming holiday. Elat contacted several of his friends who wrote letters of objection against the Mayor’s overseas trip.
The Mayor got several of his friends to write in saying they all thought it was a good thing for the Mayor to go overseas. When the letters arrived at the Ministry the letters of support were held in a basket called ‘pending’ as no-one had ever received letters of support for an idea before, mainly because the Ministry had never asked for them. The Ministry only ever asked for complaints, as that was what was required. Everyone knew that was what everyone needed to be concerned about.
The Ministry took several weeks to check the situation because the next meeting to which applications could be presented was another month away. The Mayor did not hear anything, so after six weeks he phoned the Ministry to be told that his application would be going to a meeting in two weeks, he would be notified in due course. Finally he was told that although the objections had been dismissed the letters of support were a problem and that Elat had some letters like them for his Housing permit request and all this meant he was required back for the next Ministry meeting in five weeks time. It was going to be a very short trip, the Mayor decided there would be some changes regarding applications when he returned. Elat woke up happy that day and his wife could be heard brewing his tea in the kitchen.
phillboas 