from waves of afghan women radio

[Jawad from Kolola Poshta] [Dari]: I have an apartment here in Kolola Poshta. The front side [pavement part] of my apartment is rugged. I wanted to asphalt the area, but the Kabul municipality doesn’t allow me. I have bribed the members of this department with at least US$2000. However, my problem has not been solved so far. I hope that you’ll be able to discuss this problem with the members of the department so that they will soon solve my problem.

[Host/speaker]: If you got a building permission, you would have not faced this problem. By the way, we will invite a member of the Kabul municipality in our programme, and we will give your contact number to him to ask you about the person you gave money to [bribed]. Will you be prepared to help us identify the corrupt official from this department? [The answer was yes].

[Abdul Ahad Tanha, a shopkeeper in Arzan Qimat area] [Pashto]: I scrutinise the clothing habits of the girls. Some days ago, a girl came in our area wearing a skimpy and semi-naked clothes just like the foreigners. We are Afghans and have special clothes to wear. I wish the girls would observe this rule and not copy the foreigners. I hope you’ll be able to invite a member of the Afghan ministry of women’s affairs to answer our questions.

[From Dihsabze area] [Pashto]: The government appropriated my property to construct the Kabul-Jalalabad road without paying us. I call on the government to treat us in a legal manner in this regard.

[no name was said] [Pashto]: I had some matters to take care of at the Afghanistan National Bank. They asked me to come in the afternoon, while they did the job for someone who paid them a bribe. Administrative corruption, from my perspective, speaks louder now than ever in the state administrations. I call on the government to draw further attention to solve this difficulty.

[Pashto]: The oil price has recently risen in Afghanistan. It is a massive problem for poor drivers. How can they provide for their lives if they spend all their money on fuel? We call on the government to take actions to solve this problem.

[a female] [Dari]: We have returned home from Pakistan and now are living in Qara Bagh district of Ghazni province, suffering a lack of school and other social facilities.[Answer from the host]: We have constantly tried our best to make an appointment with the education ministry staff, and have invited them to the programme. However, they refused. We don’t know why. We think that since they have no achievements to offer for our programme, maybe this is why they are not prepared to talk with us.

[From Kampany area of Kabul city] [Pashto]: Most youths are used to stand in the front of female schools throughout Kabul city, teasing the girls. I call on the media to provide feedback for the youths in this regard.

[Amanullah Zai from Bagrami] [Pashto]: The transport hub [bus and taxi station] for Torkham used to be situated in Pul-e Charkhi previously, but the Kabul municipality appropriated a centre in Bagrami area. However, the transportation hub has not moved there so far. This is a problem for drivers of the highway. Can you please discuss our difficulty with the Kabul municipality?

[Sardar Wali from Bot Khak village of Bagrami district of Kabul province] [Pashto]: We have heaps of transportation problems. We are poor people and unable to buy private cars. At the same time, there are no buses to take us to the city. I call on the government to send some buses in this city line as well.

[Dari]: We are four brothers. None of us has married so far, since girls’ families collect large amounts of money from boys. For this reason, we are unable to pay them. I wish the media could prepare some things convincing families not to force the boys to pay for their girls [money].

[Dari]: The commercial court of the Kabul justice system can easily be bribed. It is not possible to do anything without paying bribes in these courts. I hope the Afghan government can take decisive steps to solve this problem.