Bahrain asks voluntary bodies to step in line

Manama: Civil society groups in Bahrain have been told to hold annual general meetings in line with the rules or face legal measures at the end of a three-week grace period.

The social development ministry said it was the final warning to social organisations to regularise their functioning and that no exceptions would be made since an initial deadline had gone largely unheeded.

Bylaws stipulate that such groups must hold an annual general assembly at least three months prior to the end of the fiscal year to allow for voting on financial and activity reports.

Some 20 civil society groups have so far failed to hold their general assembly, prompting the ministry to issue the warning on Thursday.

"You need to regularise your legal status and abide by the rules governing societies in Bahrain," the ministry said in a letter addressed to the concerned societies.

A lack of quorum has been cited as one of the reasons some groups have not held their annual meetings, sources said.

The ministry did not specify the legal measures it would initiate against those who continued to flout the rules but the law stipulates a 45-day suspension of such groups and the appointment of a new head or board until the general assembly is held and a new board constituted.

Bahrain has witnessed a mushrooming of non-government voluntary organisations after King Hamad Bin Eisa Al Khalifa launched a host of reforms in 2002 that eased curbs on the formation of social and vocational groups as well as political societies.

Social development ministry figures indicate that there are now more than 450 such groups in Bahrain.