Know your mayoral candidate — Murtaza Wahab vs Hafiz Naeemur Rehman

The local body elections in Sindh took place onJanuary 15. In these elections, the PPP emerged as the leading party in Karachi, securing 93 seats. The Jamaat-i-Islami (JI), with 86 seats, closely trailed them.

As neither party managed to gain a clear majority, they must now rely on forming alliances to elect their respective mayoral candidates. Any party that has 179 members in the City Council will get the top office.

The mayor elections are scheduled to be held on Thursday, June 15 (tomorrow). JI’s Hafiz Naeemur Rehman and PPP’s Murtaza Wahab are the top contenders for mayor. An additional two members from each party have filed nomination papers as back-up candidates to the frontline nominees.

But what do we know about our potential mayor beyond headlines and election campaigns? Let’s take a deep dive into their political backgrounds, achievements and everything in between.

Who is Murtaza Wahab?

Hailing from a political family background, Wahab is the son of the late Fauzia Wahab, who served as information secretary to the PPP as well as the secretary general of PPP’s central executive committee.

After completing a Bachelors of Commerce (B.Com) degree from the University of Karachi, Wahab pursued an LLB from the University of London and Bar at Law from Lincoln’s Inn, after which he became an advocate of the High Court of Sindh.

Under Sindh chief minister Qaim Ali Shah’s government, he was appointed an adviser to the CM for law in 2015. He was once again appointed as a member of the provincial cabinet under CM Murad Ali Shah in 2016, serving as an adviser on law, information, anti-corruption, environment and coastal development at different stages. Currently, he holds the position of adviser on law to the CM as well as the spokesperson of the Sindh government.

He was elected as a senator in August 2017, a position that brought him to national attention, but he only held this role briefly until March 2018. In the 2018 provincial elections, Wahab ran as a PPP candidate from PS-111 (comprising DHA, Clifton, Gizri and adjoining areas), where he was defeated by Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf’s Imran Ismail, who later went on to become the governor of Sindh.

From Aug 2021 to December 2022, Wahab served as Karachi administrator, in charge of leading the Karachi Municipal Corporation (KMC). While serving as administrator, he had resigned in Sept 2022, following the Sindh High Court’s decision to stop the KMC tax on electricity bills, but the Sindh government refused to accept his resignation.

As an adviser to the CM and administrator of Karachi, one of the major projects under his supervision has been the Karachi Neighbourhood Improvement Project (KNIP). A World Bank project, being executed in collaboration with the Government of Sindh and the city of Karachi, it aimed to launch a “series of low-cost and high-visibility projects that improve liveability and demonstrate the potential for city transformation through neighbourhood-level interventions and consensus building”.

Owing to the project, parks and sports fields, such as the Kakri Ground, have been rehabilitated in low-income neighbourhoods. Additionally, he worked alongside District Central Deputy Commissioner Taha Saleem to initiate the “Project 100 Parks“ which aims to revive 100 parks with the support of local communities as well as municipal corporations. According to Wahab, 65 of these parks have been opened.

In addition, Wahab strongly emphasises the need for urban forests to tackle the effects of climate change and heat. He inaugurated a third urban forest in Karachi, and has supported many plantation drives.

Wahab also appears to be a strong believer in private-public partnerships. In April 2022, the Sindh government’s Energy Department, Local Government Department, and Sindh Solid Waste Management Board (SSWMB) joined hands to launch the waste-to-energy project under a public-private partnership to reduce municipal waste and support renewable energy projects.

Under Wahab’s leadership, KMC also inaugurated a 100KW solar power project at Kidney Hill Park in October 2022, vowing to set up such projects in other places. Earlier in 2021, he set up a 30KW solar power project in KU.

Following the destructive rains and urban flooding in Karachi in 2020, Wahab, serving as the spokesperson for the Sindh government, identified encroachment as a key factor disrupting Karachi’s drainage system. In September 2020, he announced that encroachments would be indiscriminately removed. It was under the government of Sindh and KMC that the Gujjar Nullah demolitions took place.

In September 2022, anti-encroachment drives took place in full swing under the administrator Wahab’s directives.

Stressing the need for accountability of civic bodies and a single authority rather than multiple heads, Wahab stated: “Karachi’s land is owned by 17 agencies. The PPP led provincial government has control over barely 40 per cent of the city, with the rest being controlled by federal government agencies and cantonment boards. But whenever a problem arises, the blame for it is shifted to the Sindh government, KMC or district municipal corporations, out of utter malice.”

Who is Hafiz Naeemur Rehman?

Hafiz Naeemur Rehman is the president of the JI’s Karachi’s chapter. He earned a civil engineering degree from NED university and a masters degree from Karachi University in Islamic history. In his formative years, he twice served as the president of the Islami Jamiat-e-Talaba (IJT), the student wing of the JI.

In 2000, he became a member of JI and in October 2013, he was appointed as the ameer (chief) of the JI Karachi chapter. He also serves as the president of the Al-Khidmat Karachi chapter, an NGO associated with the JI.

Water shortage and drainage issues are of significant importance to the JI mayoral candidate. He vows to see the K-IV project — which hopes to supply 260 million gallons per day (MGD) of water to Karachi — to completion, just like his predecessor Naimatullah Khan had done with the K-III project, 17 years ago.

Naeem has been a vocal critic of the privatisation of public institutions such as K-Electric (KE) and the Karachi Water and Sewerage Board (KWSB). In the latter case, he has threatened to file court cases to prevent such privatisation. In 2021, he opposed subsidies from the government to KE, claiming that the now-private company was making large net-profits, while the people of Karachi still suffered from loadshedding and over-billing. He has held protests against KE on multiple occasions over the years.

He also argues that mainstream political parties have displayed a lack of political will that will follow them to the local government level.

During the Covid-19 lockdown, JI and Al Khidmat provided rations to low-income communities and set up soup kitchens across the city. In addition, it helped sanitise temples and churches across Karachi.

During the 2022 floods, Al Khidmat was one of the largest and most proactive NGOs working for flood relief. The Karachi chapter sent over 25 consignments of aid in Sindh and Balochistan.

Al Khidmat houses over 15,000 children across Pakistan, of whom 1,300 reside in Karachi under its Orphan Care programme. Al-Khidmat also runs multiple health services such as pharmacies, blood banks, clinics and hospitals across the city, providing services at subsidised rates.

Speaking to women journalists regarding his manifesto, Hafiz Naeem also vowed to create recreational parks and transport services for women. Another concern was revamping the 900 schools that fall under the KMC. “We want our children to have a level playing field. Why should the rich only have a good education system?” he questioned.

Following the local body elections held on January 15, Hafiz Naeem claimed that PPP had tampered with the results, and eight seats were “given” to the PPP.

While both candidates have their own manifestos and priorities, only time will tell whether the people’s choice was the right one.

Header image: Murtaza Wahab (L) and Hafiz Naeemur Rehman (R). —Areesha Rehan