Maravi

Ndola council unveils K40.7bn budget

Ndola council unveils K40.7bn budget
Written by Zumani Katasefa and Mwila Chansa
Thursday, January 01, 2009 8:00:41 AM

NDOLA City Council has unveiled a K40.7 billion budget for the year 2009 which has since been submitted to government for approval.

And fifteen Patriotic Front (PF) councillors in Chingola on Tuesday walked out of a special council meeting to adopt the 2009 budget estimates in protest against the chairing of the meeting by ‘former’ mayor and his deputy whose mandate has expired.

In an interview, Ndola council public relations manager Roy Kuseka confirmed the development and said 40 per cent of the budget would go towards service delivery while 60 per cent would be for other council operations.

Kuseka said the council would be able to finance the budget through rates and government grants.

“As per government guidelines, the 40 percent of the budget would go towards service delivery and 60 towards council operations. As for the global financial crisis, everyone is affected and the council is not spared as we are going to face difficulties as we have to access materials,” said Kuseka.

“However, Ndola Council will strive to collect reasonable amounts of money for its operations. As a council we are going to feel the impact of the closure of companies but as an institution, we will go further to capture what is due to us from individuals and commercial organizations.”

Meanwhile, UPND national youth chairman Joe Kalusa has charged that PF councillors had failed to perform to the expected standards.

He said there was filth in Ndola City while many councillors were just watching.

James Chibwe, another Ndola resident urged the council to improve on its service delivery this year and not just concentrate on getting money from the residents for services not provided.

And a special council meeting in Chingola failed to proceed because the quorum was disbanded as a result of the walking out of the 15 councillors.

Confirming the incident, Chitimukulu ward councillor McDonald Mulongoti said councillors became outraged when they heard that mayoral elections would only be held after June 1, 2009.

“When the meeting just began, I moved a point of clarification for the town clerk to advise us about the validity of the tenure of the former mayor Chrispin Lwali and his deputy Richard Katebe whose mandate has expired as far as we are concerned,” Mulongoti said.

He said Nchanga member of parliament Wilbur Simuusa seconded his motion and demanded to see the Statutory Instrument that had extended the mandate of the mayor and his deputy as it had not been availed to the councillors.

“So the town clerk sent for it and it was read out by the director of administration, but we were outraged to hear that there is an instruction that mayoral elections will only be held after June 1,” he explained. “So then, we received another letter from the local government permanent secretary Mr Joel Ngo saying that the suspension of the elections is to allow councils to adopt budget estimates for 2009. So I contended that should we adopt the estimates today (Tuesday), are we going to have mayoral elections tomorrow (Wednesday)?”.

Mulongoti said after the town clerk failed to guarantee that elections would be held immediately the budget was adopted, the councillors realised that the town clerk had different instructions and that this was why they were prompted to walk out.

He said the mood became very tense as there was even a bitter exchange of words between some MMD and PF councillors as tempers flared.

Mulongoti accused local government and housing minister Benny Tetamashimba of making contradictory statements regarding mayoral elections, adding that he seemed to have a hidden agenda.

When contacted, acting Chingola town clerk Patrick Teleshi referred all queries to Lwali who did, however, not answer his phone.

Chingola Municipal Council is among councils on the Copperbelt that defied the government directive not to hold mayoral elections by choosing Nsansa ward councillor Simon Chanda as mayor and Chikola ward councillor Catherine Zulu as his deputy.

Tetamashimba has however stated that he would not recognise those mayors elected as the elections were not presided over by respective town clerk.

Labels: BUDGET, COUNCILS

posted by MrK @ 8:01 AM