Officials and the law

We poke fun at the well-established procedure of a major policy change being announced only to be later 'clarified' - which means cancelled.

I did that in my last post, about the ban-then-no-ban on alcohol being used in restaurant recipes.

But there's a very serious issue involved, one that was raised in the 'clarification' of the alcohol confusion.

That issue is 'officials' far exceeding their authority and believing they have the authority to, in effect, make new laws.

Only government can write laws. As Dubai Municipality's 'clarification' said, DM alone does not have the authority to issue such a ban, of alcohol, it must pass through a number of governmental authorities.

It certainly isn't within the authority of one 'official' to write laws, as has happened so many times.

We've seen it previously with tourist visas, property residence visas, ID cards, the pork ban/no ban...

Seems to me there's a need for clear directives to 'officials' telling them that they must work within the laws as they stand, and explaining to them how far their authority extends.