Private Rentals in the Civil Sector in Palestine for 2022

·       Episode No. (10)

·       Some ministries did not comply with government directives to rationalize public spending, where the government built headquarters for those ministries, yet the ministries continued renting those headquarters, and they were not vacated..!

-        What is the use of reports whose events occurred many years ago, a follower of the reports of the State Audit and Administrative Control Bureau (SAACB) may ask...! For example a report about a responsibility center in 2020 that the Bureau cites in its latest annual report for 2022, noting that it was published on its website on 21/8/2023..! Is it possible to reform and improve the performance of the public function by returning to events of previous years... events that have passed, are not forgotten, or ignored, when new violations arise; will priority be given to follow-up and investigation by the Bureau..and by followers and experts into the old violations... or will they be skipped to follow up on newly emerging violations, noting that the number of views of the Bureau's latest annual report for 2022 reached, as of the date of publishing this post, 214 cases,… only!

-        The truth is that the Bureau's reports are useful and necessary for monitoring the use of public funds... by the public function in its different responsibility centers.. even if the events occurred years ago, because auditing, accountability and follow-up are necessary to improve the management of public funds..and to enhance credibility and transparency of public sector performance..!

●      The subject of Episode No. 10 is " Private rentals of the civil sector for the year 2022"

-        The legal framework regulating public sector rentals: The Bureau's report on the above subject clarified the antiquity of the laws that govern the issue of rentals in general, including private building rentals, where the rental process is based on the Jordanian law of 1953 and its amendments up to now..

-        The report also indicated that there is no specific modern Palestinian system, law or legislation that governs and regulates the rental process, noting that the Palestinian financial system did not refer to the rental process in general, rather it touched on the conditions for liquidating the expenditure in the rental process.

-        As for the role of the Central Rents Committee, it is limited to completing the renting process with supporting documents and the like, and it does not intervene in choosing the location of the leased property, leaving that to the beneficiary: the ministries and government institutions, without verifying the actual need of the concerned ministry or institution for the property, which should be based on a needs assessment..!

-        The Central Rents Committee did not prepare what is called the unified contract system for lessors; rather it left the matter to each government department to organize its own lease contract through its legal department..!

-        Study of rented properties

-        Decision of the Council of Ministers No. 53/117/17/MW/RH/ for 2016, which mandates the formation of a special committee to study properties rented by the government or whose rents are covered by the government and which are formed from several ministries and government institutions, was not implemented.

-        There is no confirmation of our need for old rented headquarters, while some ministries and government institutions have purchased or built their own headquarters, in line with Council of Ministers decisions to rationalize public expenditures, especially rental expenditure

-        Rentals abroad, notably embassy rentals, constitute 44% of the value of general rentals covered by the general budget for the year 2022,

-        The Ministry of Health covered rental allowances for hospitals in the West Bank and Gaza in the amount of 2,034,884 shekels annually, i.e. 2.5% of the value of general rentals covered by the general budget for the year 2022

-        The Civil Service Bureau rented a plot of land from the Ministry of Awqaf to build a new headquarters for the Bureau in the Sarda area for an amount of 17,600 dinars annually, and construction works have not been started so far due to lack of Israeli occupation approvals because it is a C area.

-        The Ministry of Finance covered rental allowances for lands, warehouses and stores on behalf of the Public Petroleum Authority, and did not expropriate or build warehouses for the Authority

-        The State Audit and Administrative Control Bureau (SAACB) report was not responded to by the Ministry of Finance...! Why?... the reason is unknown..!