Tuesday 23 March 2010

CEHRNN and Hassan Ahmed - A Conflict of Interest?

Thanks to Alanadale who pointed out in the comments to an earlier post that Cllr Hassan Ahmed may have been involved with an organisation called 'Nottingham Equal'.

On checking Ahmed's register of interests confirms that Nottingham Equal is listed as an organisation "...of which [he is] a member or in a position of general control or management."

As Alan says, there could be some overlap between the two organisations' functions and one wonders whether Cllr Ahmed has been entirely unpartisan over his decision to end CEHRR's funding.

Mind you, at least he did register the interest this time, which is an improvement.

I would suggest that this decision is one which would be suitable for the underused 'call-in' procedure. It's totally inappropriate for such a major decision to be made by just two councillors, even if the decision itself were to be justified.

An article in today's 'Post' does give us a bit of insight into the reasons behind the decision. If factually correct they would give cause for concern. However, be that as it may the question remains as to whether it is within the council's constitution for such a major decision to be made under individual executive portfolio holder powers.

1 comment:

what am i doing here? said...

interesting to read about Cllr Ahmed, who is now proposed by Labour for the Radford ward.I guess its better the devils you know .. but the paucity of choice is woeful.