VOLUNTEER LOSES OUT – TO DISGRACED COUNCILLOR

24-05-2008

Community volunteer Naveed Akhtar has been robbed of her role as a health watchdog in a deprived part of Birmingham – and replaced by a shamed West Midlands councillor who was once disqualified for a year.

Naveed was elected last May as Chair of the Healthier Communities and Older People Forum for East Birmingham (HCOP), before being removed in the most disgraceful circumstances.

As we reported previously, an unholy alliance of local councillors and officials conspired to change the rules five months after she was voted in, in an undisguised attempt to remove her (see link here).

Now the scandal has taken another twist with the revelation that the new HCOP chair chosen to replace Naveed is Waheed Saleem, a former Walsall councillor who was banned from holding office for 12 months in June 2004 for leaking commercially sensitive information.

The Standards Board found that he had told members of community group about the highest bid in a sealed offer process for a council property – allowing them to trump it.

There was no suggestion that Saleem stood to benefit financially from the deal, but although he always denied any wrongdoing, the judgement went against him.

According to the Standards Board, he was “guilty of bringing his office or authority into disrepute.”

In the aftermath of the verdict, Sir Anthony Holland, Chair of The Standards Board for England, said: “This kind of behaviour undermines public confidence in the work of local councillors.

"The vast majority who work within local government are honourable and trustworthy people; it is the tiny minority who tarnish their reputation" (See link here to pdf file)

So this is the person – representing Birmingham East and North Primary Care Trust – who is deemed more appropriate by the city’s establishment to sit on HCOP than a Muslim mum from Alum Rock who simply wants to help her friends and neighbours.

Fab.

And who is offering to help Naveed? Well, to his credit, local councillor Tariq Khan is being supportive, but local MP Liam Byrne has kept her waiting weeks for a response after she visited his surgery.

In the meantime, Naveed is still trying to work out why her credentials as a public-spirited volunteer are ranked below those of a man who brought disgrace on his public office.

And, frankly, so are we.

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