Gharib Al Saridi is quiet in public sessions

FNC member from Fujairah has not raised any of his campaign issues in the council.

ABU DHABI // Gharib Al Saridi, who says he prefers to work out of the limelight, has yet to publicly raise the issues he campaigned on during the 2011 FNC elections, but has brought up matters related to conditions in public schools.

Mr Al Saridi said he would tackle health, the impact of quarries, and flooding from extreme weather in Fujairah once he was on the council.

So far, the quiet member has taken part in only a few public debates.

Mr Al Saridi, who did not attend the first four council sessions because he had suffered a heart attack, had a notable moment in the FNC when he pressed the Minister of Education, Humaid Al Qatami, to renovate public schools in Fujairah.

The schools, he said, were old and had received next to no maintenance. There were no science labs and the air conditioning was so poor that pupils were frequently sent home early.

He also said that the toilets were “not good” and school nurses were not always on duty.

Mr Al Qattami responded that the air-conditioning systems in 515 schools in Dubai and the Northern Emirates would be repaired, and 61 would be rewired. New laboratories would be installed in more than 20 schools.

Mr Al Saridi has said that he believes “health is one of the biggest concerns we have in Fujairah, where people are actually scared to do any major operations at a Fujairah hospital.”