Maravi

Kabimba blames demise of councils on presidential directives

Kabimba blames demise of councils on presidential directives
By Namatama Mundia
Sun 09 May 2010, 03:40 CAT

PATRIOTIC front (PF) secretary general Wynter Kabimba has charged that President Rupiah Banda’s statements have contributed to the demise of the local government system in the country.

Commenting on concerns by Copperbelt Province councils that are having difficulties in collecting rates and rentals because tenants were refusing to pay following President Banda’s recent pronouncements on Friday, Kabimba said the demise of local authorities since 1991 had been as a result of so-called presidential directives which have gone to local authorities in different forms.

“For as long as the ruling party and the president or sitting presidents believe that there security of tenure of office shall continue to be based on weakening of the local authorities to get public support, local government will not deliver in this country,” he said.

Kabimba said local government system was founded on the principle that those who use services provided by councils should pay for those services.

“That is what is called the user-charge principle and the residents themselves have machinery of challenging local authorities through those elected representatives called councillors to ensure that there is a collaration between the money paid to councils and towards service delivery and the services that are delivered by the councils to them,” he said.

“They tenants even have an option of going to court against local authorities to compel local authorities to deliver quality services to residents.”

Kabimba added that the intervention that was emerging by a way of practice since 1991 under former president Frederick Chiluba where the president thinks he is a big councilor had killed local authorities.

“Where the president thinks he is a big councillor amongst the elected councillors and represents the people outside the established local government channels is what has killed local authorities in Zambia,” he said.

Kabimba advised President Banda to stop coming out like he was more concerned about residents than people that elected them.

“So the President must keep away from this image that he is more concerned about the residents than the people that the residents have elected to represent them and hence allow the people to play patronage to him and look at him as their big saviour in all their difficulties even when the government itself is not playing its role in financing local authorities,” he said.

Kabimba said the consequences of patronage scheme were that cities, municipalities and townships were going to become big villages which would exist outside provisions regarding planning development and water services.

“One example in the world of one big city which became a big village is Porto Prince in Haiti and consequences of that earthquake is what we expect in a system where local government has failed completely,” he said.

Kabimba said government could go to parliament and amend the local government Act in order to incorporate presidential directives but that it would not be fair to residents.

“But this country will not do with haphazard and off the cuff directives which are not based on research and which are not based on any form of surveys and ultimately are not in the interest of people they are intending to save,” Kabimba said.

“The President is being unfair to the same residents he wants to save and he is also being unfair to the system of local government that is supposed to be the engine of development in the country because people can’t use services that they are not going to pay for, just like nobody walks in a shop to pick a piece of clothing and say ‘can’t you see I am naked’.”

He said President Banda was telling people of Zambia through this patronage system that they should demand services for free.

“This patronage is what has killed Africa because regimes wants to overstay in power even when the people are dying from preventable diseases as long as they continue producing children to vote for them even when they are killing the education system that is supposed to make people make informed decisions to improve their links, this is a case of Africa and African politics,” said Kabimba.

Labels: COUNCILS, LOCAL GOVERNMENT, POLITICAL INTERFERENCE, RUPIAH BANDA, WYNTER KABIMBA

posted by MrK @ 6:25 PM