Maravi

Banda rebukes mayor for saying masebo is beautiful

Banda rebukes mayor for saying masebo is beautiful
By Joan Chirwa, Mutale Kapekele and Noel Sichalwe
Tuesday July 17, 2007 [04:00]

VICE-PRESIDENT Rupiah Banda yesterday rebuked Livingstone mayor John Mukosho for saying local government and housing minister Sylvia Masebo is a very beautiful and evergreen woman. In his address to the 51st Local Government Association of Zambia (LGAZ) annual conference in Livingstone, Mukosho said Masebo was a very beautiful woman and that she was evergreen because of her dressing.

“I would like to congratulate the ever beautiful Masebo for the appointment to chair the SADC local government desk,” Mukosho said. “No wonder the people in Chipata refer to you as the evergreen woman.”
But Vice-President Banda told Mukosho to stop over-praising Masebo because that was against protocol.

“If I were you, I would not do that because even myself as Vice-President I can not say those things. You should just look, don’t comment,” Vice-President Banda told Mukosho before officially opening the conference.

And Mukosho, who is an MMD councillor, said Zambia would have been privatised to the highest bidder if President Levy Mwanawasa did not take over the government. He was commenting on the current high levels of corruption in Zambia, which he said, if unchecked could sell-off the country.
“Mayors should fight corruption. I can imagine if Mwanawasa did not take over government, this country will have been privatised to the highest bidder,” said Mukosho.

Speaking earlier, United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) country representative Aeneas Chuma said full participation of stakeholders would ensure a successful decentralisation process embarked on by the local government ministry.

“There is no quick fix prescriptions but instead lessons learnt from consultative and participatory processes which take into account country specific context, cultures and other sensitivities,” Chuma said. “Tools, institutions and processes including monitoring need to be developed based on this knowledge.”

Chuma further said community empowerment was critical in securing successful decentralisation.
“UNDP will continue to support government in implementing sector devolution and reviewing of the legal framework required to facilitate it,” Chuma said. “Decentralisation is not only a central government undertaking but collaborative effort of collaborative actors from various levels of government and society.”

And Masebo commended the government for acknowledging the critical role that local authorities play in the development process since they provide an effective governance system on behalf of the central government.
“Decentralisation is not the beginning or the end, but a process which started with the 1993 local government Act, and if fully implemented, Zambia would be half way through to the decentralisation policy,” said Masebo.
LGAZ president Charles Mumena said good local governance was necessary in decision-making for the country’s development process.

“Local authorities are critically important to the development of the country as they reflect views of the communities,” Mumena said. “Hence, decentralisation will provide greater autonomy for the councils and strengthen the local authorities.”
Meanwhile, Vice-President Banda said the government was still holding discussions with stakeholders on various issues affecting the local councils.

“Some of the issues brought forward to the attention of President Mwanawasa include the exemption of councils from the workers compensation, the future of local authorities superannuation fund, the concern on the pace of the implementation of the national decentralisation policy,” Vice-President Banda said. “Government is seriously looking into these issues raised and further consultation will be made with relevant bodies and you will be informed accordingly.”

Vice-President Banda also congratulated Masebo for her election as chairperson of the SADC local government desk and urged her to spearhead developmental issues pertaining to local government in Zambia.
“As you may be aware, President Mwanawasa will be taking over chairmanship of SADC this August. It is necessary therefore that all sectors of government to do their part to ensure success and effectiveness during Zambia’s tenure,” said Vice-President Banda.

He urged LGAZ and the Ministry of Local Government to utilise and account for the budgeted K17.7 million grant to benefit the communities.

He said the problem of grants was one other issue brought to President Mwanawasa's attention during the deliberations with LGAZ at State House recently.

"To re-affirm the commitment of government to local government administration, the central government has so far this year released K17.7 billion as grants in lieu of rates for the 2007 budget," he said. "In this regard, it is my prayer that the grants will be used accordingly for the benefit of the communities and must be accounted for. My government has further increased the allocations of grants to local authorities from K6 billion in 2004 to K107 billion in 2007 national budget."
Vice-President Banda noted that councils lacked machinery to implement works expected of them. He said the government was making efforts to acquire road maintenance equipment for councils.

He also said government would not create any new districts without considering the available infrastructure as was the case in the past.

He said the government would concentrate on providing infrastructure in the new districts that were created.
He encouraged LGAZ to continue discussing issues of municipal bonds, status of implementation of the decentralisation policy, superannuation fund and the transfer to commercial utilities of water infrastructure.

Vice-President Banda further said the African Peer Review Mechanism (APRM), a NEPAD initiative, was a testimony of government commitment in promoting good governance in Zambia and also Africa.
He said the APRM tool enabled integral and sustainable development to occur on the continent.
"Further, the tool if properly implemented will help deal with issues of corruption, wrong decision making, and promote good governance," he said.

Vice-President Banda further said he was aware that the transport ministry has disseminated that concept of e- governance to the local government ministry.

"E-governance is one of the thirteen pillars of the ICT policy," he said. "The Ministry of Local Government and Housing through its local authorities which are geographically distributed offers a backbone infrastructure covering the entire country that can provide the access to information and knowledge resource, domestic and global markets."

Labels: JOHN MUKOSHO, MAYOR, RUPIAH BANDA, SYLVIA MASEBO

posted by MrK @ 6:26 AM