(LUSAKATIMES) Nepotism killing councils- Masebo
Nepotism killing councils- MaseboPosted on August 5th, 2008
The Minister for local government says nepotism and tribalism are vices which have contributed to the poor performance in local authorities. Sylvia Masebo says this has led to misapplication of government grants to councils. She said this is despite a sharp rise in government grants to local authorities over the last four years. Ms. Masebo also noted that most of the councils have employed ill qualified staff.
The Minister was speaking when she addressed Town Clerks, Mayors, Districts Administrative officers and council secretaries from 70 districts. This was at a consultative meeting on the re-establishment of the local government service commission.
The local government service commission will oversee the employment of workers in councils to ensure qualified people are recruited. And the National Housing Authority (NHA) may be forced to scale down the construction of houses in Lusaka due to lack of land.
Public Relations Manager, Tamika Mulenga told ZNBC news that the Authority has already exhausted the land in the capital city. Mrs. Mulenga said the Housing Authority will now concentrate on building houses in other parts of the country. This will also include the 300 housing units in Solwezi scheduled to take off early next year.
[ZNBC]
Labels: COUNCILS, GOVERNANCE, LOCAL GOVERNMENT, NEPOTISM, SYLVIA MASEBO, TRIBALISM
posted by MrK @ 8:13 PM
1 Comments:
The question is also, what is the government doing or helping councils to do, to build capacity at the council level, what is it doing to track the money it is paying to councils (as well as contractors, etc.) already? And lastly, won't the local nature of councils always give them an element of 'tribalism' in it's hiring and operations? But ms Masebo has a point that if councils want to show that they are capable of receiving much more money from central government, they will have to show that they can handle what little they receive right now wisely. And there will always be conflicts between local and central government priorities - which is as it should be. More empowered councils are another check on ubridled central government power.
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