ABU DHABI // Salem bin Huwaidan received more votes than any other candidate in Sharjah, but he has not yet drawn the same attention from the public as other FNC members.
In 2011, he hit the ground running after putting the Minister of Labour, Saqr Ghobash, on the spot in the first few weeks of his term, calling for the removal of mandatory Dh3,000 company insurance on private-sector workers.
Once the council was flooded with questions from other members, Mr bin Huwaidan’s public session activity slowly decreased.
Although over the past three years he has made many contributions to the council, he remains one of the less publicly vocal members.
In a discussion with the head of the Marriage Fund, Dr Maitha Al Shamsi, Mr bin Huwaidan put a recommendation forward to the Government calling for the fund’s committees in every emirate to resume their work to follow up on newlywed nationals.
The intention was to check on how marriage grants were being spent.
He said the committees encouraged group weddings, which were being accepted by tribal leaders after Sheikh Mohammed bin Zayed, Crown Prince of Abu Dhabi and Deputy Supreme Commander of the Armed Forces, led by example.
Members of Sheikh Mohammed’s own family took part in a group marriage.
On the council, Mr bin Huwaidan is a member of the Islamic affairs, Awqaf and public facilities committee, and the deputy head of the health, labour and social affairs committee.
osalem@thenational.ae
